yay, chapter 2. DON'T OWN. yaoi. Sasu/naru. Sai/naru in this chapter. character death in this chapter. mention of sex. lemon later.
When I got out, all I had left was Kyuubi, a photo album and the paintbrush Deidara had given me. These three things were my greatest treasures because it was all I had in the world. I met Deidara and Sasori's friend and he gave me everything I could have wanted, hell, he funded my career, but no matter what he gave me these three things remained my most precious possessions.
Sasuke touched the drawing of the stuffed fox, the black photo album and the long, wooden paintbrush. He had woken up that morning and remembered Naruto freaking out about him touching the paintbrush and started looking for why it was so important to him in the autobiography. He had read the book multiple times but now it seemed new to him. It had always been a sad but interesting story to him but now it was someone's actual life and it was the first time it really hit him. Sasuke heard a motorcycle pull up.
"Oi! Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as the motorcycle was turned off. Sasuke quickly put the book up and went downstairs to open the door. Today Naruto wore orange converse, black jeans stained with paint and an orange belt and a white tank top with an orange swirl painted on it, the strap of his army green messenger bag nearly covered the swirl up, the emerald necklace was still there, the green goggles and the paintbrush were still there. The paint from his cheek was gone but his hands were stained with black and red paint. "Good, you're up. I was afraid I would get here too early." Naruto smiled.
"It's ten." Sasuke said looking at his clock. Naruto smiled.
"Right. I forget people don't usually wake up as late as me." Naruto said.
"Well, are you going to come in?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded. He stepped into the house and looked at Sasuke.
"So, where should we do it?" Naruto asked. Sasuke inwardly grimaced as his mind took that phrase to something he knew Naruto didn't mean.
"The kitchen table is pretty big. There would be enough room." Sasuke said. Naruto nodded and walked back into the kitchen. Sasuke went to grab some sketch paper form his office and then was back to the kitchen to join Naruto. Naruto was sitting there with his messenger bag open. A large sketch book sat on the table and he was digging in the bag. "What are you looking for?" Sasuke asked.
"Pencil." Naruto mumbled.
"I have some." Sasuke said. Naruto looked up and smiled.
"Of course you do." Naruto said and then put his bag on the floor. Sasuke set his paper down on the table and the two started working. Every once in a while Sasuke would catch himself staring at Naruto. Yes, he was in love with the boy but also he was amazed by him. Naruto really knew what he was talking about and was very passionate about everything he did. Naruto knew exactly what he wanted the house to be like and Sasuke helped him put it on paper. When the day was over, Naruto said he would be back again tomorrow so they could design stuff for the house. Sasuke went back to his room and pulled out a magazine about Naruto's first art show. His enthusiasm had reminded him of something Naruto had said in the article. The picture for the article was one of Naruto's 'sculptures'. It was two concrete sidewalk stones covered with red paint and a canvas board built to be the outline of a body painted black rested on top of the red. The piece was titled 'lost suicide.' Sasuke had seen this piece at a show and was disturbed by it.
"It's supposed to be disturbing. I remember looking down at Sai as he laid on those blocks completely broken. Death is something that scares and fascinates us. People look on in morbid fascination and never truly understand what it's like for the person left behind. But death is beautiful in it's own dark way. It's mysterious, violently abrupt, scary as all hell and more emotional than anything I could ever create. I'm no stranger to death and this was created in honor of everyone who had been that person left behind. No one can understand the emotion in this piece unless they have experienced the loss I have."
This boy had a passion that Sasuke had never seen before in anyone. Sasuke had never felt any passion for what he did. He just did it because he was good at it. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy it, he liked his job a lot, but there wasn't the same kind of passion he saw in Naruto. But everything Naruto talked about today was about how he wanted the room to be happy and open and inviting, not once had he even hinted at his tragic past. Sasuke again was amazed by the boy and not only his passion but strength to carry on. He was amazed and jealous.
"Hey! Sasuke!" Naruto called banging on Sasuke's door early the next morning. Sasuke grumbled and got out of his bed.
"Naruto, it's six in the morning." Sasuke yawned opening the door to find Naruto jumping excitedly.
"Yeah, well, I couldn't sleep and so I decided to come over early so that we can get started. I went to the paint and fabric stores last night and got a few ideas for us to design stuff for." Naruto smiled setting his messenger bag on the couch. Today Naruto wore faded and torn blue jeans with sharpie writing and doodles covering them and a tight black t-shirt with a maroon colored vest. The goggles were hanging around his neck and he wore a burgundy newsboy hat with the paint brush stuck behind his ear. He smiled brightly as he sat down on the couch.
"Okay, I guess we can get started." Sasuke said. Of course Naruto already knew what he wanted. It was fairly easy for Sasuke to get down on paper all of the designs for Naruto's house. "Hey, what are you going to do with that last room?" Sasuke asked. They hadn't talked about the fourth upstairs room at all. Naruto actually had barely even set foot in there.
"I don't know. I was wanting Gaara to do something with it, but he said he didn't care. What do you think I should do?" Naruto ask. Sasuke thought for a minute.
"Let me design that room for you. It'll be my special project." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled as he looked up at Sasuke.
"Really? That's awesome of you." Then his smile turned into a frown. "But, I don't have anything to give to you in return." He said. Sasuke shook his head.
"Don't worry about it." Sasuke said. Naruto's eyes brightened a bit.
"How about I make you a one of a kind original work, made especially for you?" Naruto asked. Sasuke smiled.
"You'd do that?" Sasuke asked. "You don't usually make special pieces."
"Yeah, well I'm sure you don't make special designs either." Naruto smiled at him. Sasuke smile. He really did love Naruto. They had finished all of the designs and Naruto had to leave. And by had to I mean Sasuke told him he had business he needed to attend to and after Naruto left Sasuke jerked off in his shower. Sasuke knew he was now in very dangerous territory. He knew getting closer to Naruto was a bad idea but this was really bad now. After the shower Sasuke put on a suit and went to his office in the city. It was about two in the afternoon and he knew his brother would be there.
"Oh, Mr. Uchiha, we didn't know you were coming in." One of the receptionists said as she and the other receptionist stared at Sasuke.
"Hn. Is Itachi in?" Sasuke asked. The two girls nodded. Sasuke walked to Itachi's office and knocked.
"Come in." A voice called form the other side. Sasuke opened the door an stepped inside. Itachi smiled up at his brother. "Yes, little brother, what do you need?"
"I'm remodeling my house." Sasuke said. Itachi raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you were going to sell it." Itachi said.
"Well, I am, but my buyer wants to change a few things about the house and I was wondering if I could get a team to start tomorrow?" Sasuke asked.
"I haven't even seen the plans for the remodeling yet, Sasuke. I have to make sure you're not going to do anything dangerous." Itachi said.
"I drew up the plans myself, brother. I know they will work." Sasuke said. Itachi nodded.
"Very well." He said.
"Um," Sasuke said softly.
"What else?" Itachi asked.
"Well, I've also designed the furniture and stuff and was wondering if the warehouse could start on it? It's all basic stuff and a complete set so we could possibly even put them in our line for next year." Sasuke said. Itachi looked up at Sasuke.
"You must like this one, little brother, having spent so much effort on him." Itachi smirked. Sasuke knew his brother could see it clearly.
"The buyer and his boyfriend are wanting to move into the house in a month or two." Sasuke said emphasizing the 'boyfriend' part. Itachi frowned.
"You're not doing anything stupid are you, Sasuke?" Itachi asked.
"I'm being completely professional." Sasuke said. He set his room designs on Itachi's desk. "Here are my designs. I'd like to have the set for this house finished in two months when they move in." Sasuke said and walked out of the room. Itachi looked at the designs. They were fairly difficult meaning the client knew what they wanted or Sasuke was trying hard to impress them or a mixture of the two which it was in this case.
"Your designs are good, I'll start them in the morning. The crew will be at your house at five." Itachi said in his intercom. He knew Sasuke was still in the lobby and would hear him. Sasuke smirked as he walked out of the lobby. He made it back home and laid on his bed. There was nothing on TV that night that he knew of, and he didn't really want to watch a movie so he groaned as he grabbed Naruto's book.
"I really need to stop obsessing over him." Sasuke told himself.
'no way, have you seen how hot he is?' the voice in Sasuke's head asked. 'obsess over him as much as you possibly can. he's so hot.'
"Will you shut up?" Sasuke growled at the voice.
'come on, tomorrow when he comes over just jump him and ravish him wherever you want.' the voice laughed. 'you know he'd probably like it. He is Gaara's bitch after all.'
"That's exactly why I can't. He's Gaara's." Sasuke grumbled and opened to a page in the book to find a photograph of a heart drawn in the sand next to a picture of rocks kind of set up in a heart in the sand. Sasuke read the writing underneath.
I was at a beach a week or so after the accident. I was walking near the water when I saw two hearts. One was drawn in the sand while the other was made of fairly large, fairly heavy rocks. I think love is like a heart in the sand at the beach. The heart that was drawn in the sand was easy to make, it lasts as long as it can before the tide changes and it's washed away forever. Shallow love isn't what I'm looking for. The other heart made of heavy rocks obviously took some time to form. Whoever put it there wanted to make their mark and knew that even when the tide changes or little kids go running through the sand, it will last. I want to find that person who will put forth effort and try to make their impression last on me. That kind of unconditional love is what I lost when my dad died. Not like the 'in love' kind of love but that deeper connection with another person, fill in the holes kind of love. Of course I'm looking for a person to be the 'in love' while filling a hole in my being that had been specifically made for them when I was created. I went back to that beach when I was fifteen. The rocks were still there and I took this picture. They had moved a bit and suffered through the years I'm sure, but they were still there. The drawing in the sand was me. I took the picture and then watched as the water washed it away. My life is always changing. But I'm hoping that in another five years I can go back to that beach and find the stone heart still.
Sasuke put the book down. That was a terrible page to open up on.
"Hyuuga would say it's destiny." Sasuke laughed to himself. He laid back on his bed and started to drift to sleep. "I can't even stop thinking about him." Sasuke sighed. He was definitely in trouble. He didn't even get to sleep before the workers arrived the next morning. They packed up anything valuable or that could have been broken and put it all into a storage container in the driveway. Sasuke was able to save a few things before they got packed up. But it was really, Naruto's book, a few of his cds, his toiletries and a few sets of clothes. Unlike most contractors, the men who worked of the Uchiha company got the job done and fast. Sasuke would really only be out of his house for a week or two at most. It took a few hours to get everything packed into the storage container but then they went at remodeling the house. The first thing to go was the kitchen wall and the dining room wall so that the entire downstairs was now a big room. The walls were taken down by noon and that was when Naruto showed up in orange track pants and a black tank top. There was a band around his arm holding his music player there, the ear-buds hung from his neck. His paintbrush stuck in the band with the music player. The boy was flushed, sweaty and panting and Sasuke almost got a nosebleed.
"Hey, Sas," Naruto panted.
"Hey, Naruto, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked.
"Going for a run. I usually run across the city to visit my granny but today I decided to run over here instead. It's actually closer. What's going on here?" Naruto asked looking at all the workers.
"Remodeling. I want to have it finished before you move in." Sasuke said handing him a water bottle. Naruto smiled and drank some of the water.
"That's very considerate of you, Uchiha." He smiled. "You know most sellers wouldn't put forth this much effort. And any remodeling would be done by the buyer after the house is bought." He told him.
"Yeah, well I have nothing else to do currently. The only job I was supposed to do recently was design a new interior look and I did that when we designed for this house." Sasuke shrugged. Naruto smiled.
"Well, I'm glad I could help." He said. Sasuke scratched his head.
"Um, I'd offer you a place to sit down but as you can see, it's kind of a danger zone in here." Sasuke said. Naruto nodded.
"Come on, lets go outside then." Naruto said taking Sasuke's hand and pulling him outside. They sat down against a tree in the back yard. "So I talked with Gaara yesterday and he said he'll bee gone for another two weeks." Naruto said.
"Oh okay." Sasuke shrugged.
"Well, I mean I'm not going to have anything to do for the next two weeks and so I'll probably be coming over a lot you know. Unless you don't want me to." Naruto said.
"No, it's cool. You can come over whenever you want." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled. Sasuke sighed and looked up at the blue sky. "I don't want to pry or anything, but I've been reading your autobiography recently."
"What? That thing actually sold? Wow." Naruto laughed and ran a hand through his hair. Sasuke nodded.
"It's weird because I read it when I first bought it and I knew that it was about someone's life but then when I met you and started reading it again I realized it was really about someone's life." Sasuke said.
"Yeah, it does seem like a fairy tale." Naruto laughed.
"How do you do it?" Sasuke asked.
"Do what?" Naruto asked looking up at him.
"Keep going, be happy, just live?" Sasuke asked.
"I have to. If I don't then it'd just be a waste." Naruto said. "I tried the whole wallowing in self pity for about a day and then I realized no one cares about my troubles and I'd just have to move on so I did."
"You know, the first time I ever heard about you I was amazed. Then I went to your art show and saw 'lost suicide' and 'good or bad' and was kind of disturbed. Then I saw 'golden rain' and 'kyu holes' and was speechless. Then I read your book and pitied you. Now I've met you I sit in awe because you're one of the most amazing people I have ever met." Sasuke said. Naruto blushed.
"That's really corny, Sasuke." Naruto said softly.
"Yeah, sorry." Sasuke laughed slightly. "So, your dad died when you were," Sasuke started.
"Ten. We were driving home from an art exhibit one night. My dad was always into art always taking me to galleries and stuff. He wanted me to be an artist so bad. I was okay, you know, for a ten year old and he kept telling me that I was going to be great because I was his son and he believed in me. We got hit head on by a drunk driver. Dad died on the way to the hospital. I was unconscious and woke up two days later. I think that was when I became really good at art. I think it was my dad helping me out a lot." Naruto said calmly. He wasn't bothered by talking about it anymore, so many other things had happened to him that if he stopped to be bothered by one they would all come crashing down on him.
"That's got to be rough." Sasuke said.
"It was, I got into the wrong crowd and got arrested when I was thirteen. I had no family to speak of so they sent me to a 'detention camp' which was a nicer way of saying jail. I wasn't really interested in much other than art. We were allowed to choose a few things to keep in our cell to entertain us when we were just sitting there. I got a notebook and a piece of charcoal. After a few days of the guards watching me they called in an expert or something. The people in charge encouraged us kids to channel our energy into a hobby and the expert said art should be my hobby. I got put in Deidara's class first. The first day he handed me this paintbrush and told me to do whatever I wanted. Everyone else he had told to paint something simple. I painted shapes of red and orange and yellow blending together and blue swirling around the top with a few black and purple splatters mixed in. Deidra said it looked like an explosion. When it came time to leave his class that day, Deidara told me to keep the paintbrush because I'm the only one who had ever gotten anything that amazing to come out of it." Naruto said.
"I remember seeing that painting. What was the name?" Sasuke asked.
"Art DEL 2538. It was what they stamped at the bottom of it. That was my ID number at the camp. But after a few weeks Deidara wanted to see what I could do with clay. Deidara told me about times when he was a kid and had made clay sculptures and put explosives in them just for fun. He was a strange guy though, he got drunk once and tattooed mouths with tongues hanging out onto his palms. I asked him why and he said he had no idea he just woke up and they were there." Naruto laughed a bit. "I was good with clay too. Sasori, the other art teacher wanted to see how I was with building and carving sculptures so I was also put into his class. The first thing I ever made for Sasori was a puppet. Sasori had a thing for puppets. He told me that when he was a kid and his parents died no one wanted to be friends with him and he had a puppet his grandmother had made him and that was who his friend was for the longest time. He talked about his puppets as if they were real people."
"That's kind of scary." Sasuke said. Naruto laughed.
"Yeah, they all hung up in the workshop and it always felt like they were staring at me whenever I was working, you know? It was cool in a really creepy way. I started building stuff with Sasori and he was amazed. I got in contact with him yesterday asking if I could come to his workshop to build some stairs for the house." Naruto said. Sasuke stopped him.
"What? Stairs for the house?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, I don't like the stairs you have right now, too bulky and in the way. I'm gonna build a black iron spiral staircase to go with the furniture. I don't have enough room anywhere to do it so me and Sasori are gonna build it in his workshop." Naruto nodded. Sasuke nodded as well.
"What about Sai? I saw that piece in an art show then I read the article about it. I want to hear the real story." Sasuke said. Naruto sighed.
"Well, Sai came about a month after I had. He was really good at drawing. He was making a picture book for his brother and he kept it with him at all times. He told me he had forgotten how he was going to finish it and so he needed it near him at all times in case he remembered. He didn't have very good social skills and was pretty awkward most of the time but he was a good guy. We started hanging out all the time and became like best friends and stuff. He was two years older than me. In the detention camp, when you turned sixteen you got moved to a different part of the camp. Well, he was about to turn sixteen and the older guys were giving him a hard time saying he was going to be the bitch and stuff. It scared him. He'd never been with another boy before and so I said I would do it with him. We snuck out behind one of the buildings one night and had sex. It wasn't anything amazing, I mean we were an almost sixteen and a fourteen year old and it was our first time. But I remember when it was over he smiled at me and told me he loved me. We kept going on with our lives during the day and would meet up at night behind one of the buildings and go at it. The morning of his sixteenth birthday he was found dead. He had jumped off of one of the buildings and landed on the sidewalk. It was really scary to see that. I didn't go to my classes for a week or two because I just couldn't get the image of it out of my head. Sasori forced me to come into his class and I spent the entire day there and I made that piece. Sasori said it was one of the most emotional pieces of art he had ever seen in his life." Naruto said.
"Wow." Sasuke breathed softly.
"Once I built it though, I could move on and continue working. Deidara and Sasori had a friend that was interested in my artwork. I agreed to meet their friend when I left the camp and he sponsored my first show and that's how this whole art career got started." Naruto smiled.
"That's quite a story you have." Sasuke said.
"Yeah, but really I think if I had had a normal life then I wouldn't have been as good as I am now." Naruto shrugged. He looked up at the sky and sighed. "What about you? What's your story?"
"Don't really have one. I graduated form high school when I was 16 because I'm apparently a genius. I got into design school that year and after graduating three years later I started working for my family's company and I've been doing that ever since." Sasuke shrugged.
"You tell it so boring." Naruto laughed. "What about your family? When did you decide you wanted to be a designer? Who was your first love? You need to tell me those sort of things."
"Well, my family is my dad and mom and brother. I don't know it's always been business with us so I didn't have much of a childhood. My brother started me in sketching. He said I had a natural ability being and Uchiha and all. I fell in love at an early age but that person left me when I was 18 and it really hasn't been the same between us since. I think pouring myself into my work helped me get over it though. I took a few art classes you know, not just design stuff. It helped me get my frustration out. When I started at the company I started in the warehouse so that I could get a feel for the machines and know what they could or couldn't make. I know hoe to make pretty much everything our company makes and occasionally I get away with making special pieces for myself." Sasuke said. "Other than that, there isn't much to tell."
"Well it's more exciting than I graduated, went to college and now work for my family's company." Naruto smiled at him.
"I guess." Sasuke shrugged.
"I don't know, sometimes I wish I could go to school and get an education." Naruto said. Sasuke frowned. It was again one of those things he knew but didn't realize. Naruto hadn't even gotten to go to high school.
"You could always take classes online and get your GED. Then go to college." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled and shook his head.
"It's not like they can teach me anything I don't already know." Naruto said. "I just had to learn the hard way." He added with a laugh. They sat there for a few moments in silence. "I should get going. Looks like you have some work to do." Naruto said as some of the workers started unloading new wood and sheetrock for the house.
"Yeah, sure." Sasuke nodded.
"Hey, I'll come back tomorrow and help out. If I had known I would have helped out today." Naruto said standing up and brushing his pants off.
"Great, I'll see you tomorrow then." Sasuke nodded.
"Later." Naruto smiled while putting his ear-buds in and turning on his music player. He waved and ran off.