Disclaimer : I don't own anything.
Warning : shounen-ai, sappiness, fluff-ness, mild language, high school love life-drama, OOCness, mentions of totally negligible OCs, yeah :) Things inside the (parentheses) are not authoress' notes.
Notes : A lot of thank-you to all the readers of this little fanfic :) I hope you enjoy this installment!
I'm Married To Who!
Third Chapter
It was just one.
It was white.
It was white with some splashes of black colors, disrupting the entirety of whiteness.
It was a very simple piece of paper.
But it contained their set of tasks as husband and wife.
He remained in front of Naruto's apartment, long after the blond has left his car. He couldn't appropriately describe this feeling of wanting to be close to the other. He balled his fists, feeling the upcoming anger clouding his mind. He despised not knowing, and this is an example.
He hated not knowing what's wrong with him—since when did Naruto infect him so thoroughly, so quickly—so much so that he couldn't even try to separate his mundane thoughts from thinking to how Naruto was doing.
It's not like anything changed between them.
He just couldn't explain the strange feeling that choked him when Naruto started meeting new friends—and his time wasn't focused on him again, wasn't focused on hating, irritating, insulting him. It was a bit—lonely, but he doesn't feel lonely, so it must be something else—
He also couldn't quite explain that anger that erupted deep within him whenever his classmates and teachers praised his genius—but Naruto would always be uncaring, would always not regard his accomplishments.
And then, he also couldn't even try to fathom why he felt absurdly contented, smug, happy, when Naruto was assigned to be his wife for this project. It's like a ray of light amidst his dwindling descent to darkness, to worrying that Naruto would someday forget all about their rivalry, and he'd forget the Uchiha boy who blended effectively with the shadows.
Yes, this is the chance—the chance to let Naruto never, ever forget about him—and also, to maybe understand his strange bursts of emotions whenever the blond teen was involved.
He smirked darkly, the action hidden by the long, shadowy bangs. He's determined to succeed, because now that Naruto has moved closer to his grasp—
He doesn't intend to let go.
"…Are you sure about this, Kakashi-sensei?" A young man asked anxiously, unable to stop the overflowing concern and worry towards a student that he considered one of his family. Brown eyes stared hard at the man standing casually in front of him; his fingers fiddled with the last button of his polo-shirt nervously.
The silver-haired man simply chuckled good-naturedly, eyes curved happily, as though there was nothing wrong, as though there were no concerns. Hatake Kakashi has always been a very perceptive man—but even his seemingly-inherent skills in reading people had limits. It was a good thing that he had some connections and first-hand experiences with observing Sasuke.
"I'm sure that they'd get along well, Iruka-sensei," The silver-haired male drawled lazily, playfully dragging out the sensei-title, but there was an undercurrent of seriousness on his words. It may not be so obvious, but Kakashi knew that Sasuke's harboring some intense attachment towards the noisy blond. He supposed it was rather unfair and biased to let this project push the two of them together, but—
"Get along well? But they've always been at each other's throats—" Iruka protested weakly, coffee-colored eyes worried immensely over Naruto. In a way, Kakashi was like Iruka—only to Sasuke.
"They'd get along fine…" Kakashi assured the other teacher, before he bowed—an offhanded gesture—before giving the other a cheery wave and moving out of the teacher's faculty center.
Uzumaki Naruto watched the board in front with an expression of utter boredom. The expression changed immediately, however, as soon as the mop of messy silver hair appeared in his line of vision. Panic, excitement and distress raced all over him as he knew that their teacher would discuss to them their first assignment now.
He fleetingly thought that maybe the teacher who called out names for recitation wasn't so bad; he fleetingly wished for that teacher to come back instead of their substitute teacher, Kakashi.
"First things first, I want you all to sit beside your partners—and please, do it with the least possible noise, okay?" Kakashi instructed brightly, while a mixture of grunts, groans and squeals surrounded the entire classroom. Naruto waited for his husband to come over, but after around twenty seconds, he sat up properly on his seat and discreetly tried to look for Sasuke.
And he saw the Uchiha, seated contentedly on his original seat near the front, unmoving and seemingly not having any plans of moving at all. Naruto fumed in his seat, and he turned to Shikamaru, only to find the lazy genius moving away from his seat with a pained expression.
"…Better go to your husband, Naruto," Shikamaru advised his friend, before he dragged his ass over to where Temari was waiting for him. The girls who heard the statement glared harshly at Naruto; they apparently haven't gotten over the fact that Sasuke-kun was never going to be theirs.
And so, Naruto weaved his way towards the front, and flopped down irritably to the seat beside Sasuke. Though, somehow, as his blue eyes discreetly glanced at his 'husband', the small smile that played at the Uchiha's lips made the move more than worthwhile.
1. Make a photo album of your relationship together. The goal of this task is to let the students show what their idea of a healthy, budding relationship is.
2. Make a weekly budget for things. There is no limit to what do you want to include, but the more realistic and the more complete it is, the higher the marks. The goal of this task to rate your planning skills, as well as cooperation with each other.
3. Try to spend time with one another more often; it would make this project easier for everyone.
4. The other set of tasks would be given to you after a couple of days.
Enjoy!
--Hatake Kakashi
"So, Naruto—how would you do that photo album?" Kiba asked with a wide smirk, obviously glad that he could tease his friend once again at his most favorite time—lunch. The dog-lover seemed to have forgotten that his 'relationship' with Shino could be brought up as soon as he teased Naruto about the high and mighty Sasuke, but—
Naruto choked on his meal, but he stubbornly kept his mouth closed. His embarrassment and annoyance at the reminder was manifested on the fierce blush that covered his cheeks though. Blue eyes glared at Kiba, and he passed the glare to his other friends. Naruto was mortified, however, to see Shikamaru looking at him expectantly.
He would've been awed to see an interested look on Shikamaru's face—but really, if it's because of him, then—!
"Oh, hi Uchiha-san," Chouji spoke through his bites of his lunch, and the statement caused Naruto to whip his head so quickly and Kiba to snicker maliciously at his reaction. This time, though, Naruto didn't even spend time on glaring at his animal-loving friend; blue eyes regarded his oh-so-beloved husband, silently asking what the hell is he doing here.
"Kakashi-sensei did advise us to spend more time together, didn't he?" Sasuke casually asked, but he didn't wait for any response and settled to sit down on the grass beside his wife. He crossed his legs comfortably, causing the black pants to hug his legs more tightly—an observation that didn't escape Naruto's eyes.
Naruto didn't reply—though he blushed lightly at the observation his mind has made just a few seconds ago. Shikamaru contentedly observed the two sitting physically close together, and he gently steered away the attention from the two slightly-uncomfortable teens.
The blond wouldn't admit it, but Sasuke's sudden appearance was oddly comforting.
He entered his mansion quietly, mildly displeased with the way the shadows curled around at every possible corner. The Uchiha Mansion, no matter how lavish or luxurious, seemed to always have an ominous cloud hanging over it. Taking that into account, it wasn't very surprising that Sasuke kept silent and aloof at most times.
But then again, Sasuke avoided interactions with most of the human race (Naruto would always be an exception…) because he thought they were nothing more than an utter waste of time.
Oh well.
He passed by Itachi's room as he went towards their very own media and entertainment center, but the sounds that erupted from his sibling's room disturbed him greatly.
"Come on, dobe, copying my schedule isn't that hard…"
"Stop insulting me, Sasuke-bastard—"
"Hn, I'd stop insulting you if you actually act like somebody who doesn't have to be insulted—"
"Arrrrgghhh, who died and made you the king of the world!"
"Ch, I don't need somebody to die for me to act like this."
"…I hate you."
"The feeling's entirely mutual."
"…Ne, Sasuke, I'm hungry."
"Your stomach is a lot more developed than your brain—"
"ARGH, I hate YOU!"
And that was the moment that Sasuke entered his older brother's room, horrified to see himself on the screen of Itachi's plasma TV. The scene shifted to show Naruto (who was in the process of trying to strangle him) and Sasuke's expression grew murderous.
"Why are you doing this, Itachi?" He asked hotly, feeling inexplicably annoyed by the reminder that he still wasn't able to stop himself from pushing Naruto away, when all he wanted was to pull the other closer—close, closer, closer to his heart—to himself.
"…I'm disappointed with your actions, little brother," Itachi said in his normal, emotionless tone, and Sasuke felt like Itachi didn't need to say that, because damn it, he knows that he's been acting weirdly, and he couldn't even stop himself from feeling these things, and he hated them, but he wanted them—and—
"But it seems that Naruto-kun doesn't seem to mind much," The gray-haired male added almost softly, almost concernedly, but that was laughable, because Itachi and concerned would never click together.
"Why are you doing this?" Sasuke repeated his unanswered question. Something strange flickered deep within those blood-colored irises, but it was gone just as soon as it appeared. Itachi almost sighed, and he opened his mouth to speak of something that ignored Sasuke's repeated question.
"Invite Naruto-kun this weekend for a sleepover. Then, you can do the inventory and start on the photo album." Itachi suggested, though it was more like an order. Sasuke knew his creepy brother enough; Itachi would contact Naruto by himself and invite him over if he didn't do it.
Sasuke also knew that Itachi would also evade his question regarding how the hell did he know about their current tasks, so he simply let it go. After all, he was a bit relieved to find out that Itachi seemed to know what's going on with his confused self—
"Hn," The younger one replied instead, before moving out of his older brother's room, snapping the door shut behind his way. He left Itachi, with those scarlet-colored eyes glittering in the dark.
"I only wish for your happiness, Sasuke."
"Are you and Temari-san going along well?" Naruto asked the phone, patiently waiting for Shikamaru's reply. The person on the other side mumbled things that sounded dismissive and slightly annoyed—a typical Shikamaru way.
"No, no, of course I don't care—" Naruto laughed hollowly after his statement, hoping that it sounded convincing. Though it was a futile action—he didn't even believe his own words. Shikamaru sounded unconvinced as well, but he didn't press on. To his opinion, if Naruto wanted to make things harder by the constant denial—ehh, his problem, then.
"It'd be a blast to see his face when he gets an F for this," Naruto said, a bright, prankster grin on his face. He heard another pessimistic reply at his suggestion, and Shikamaru said something more, that caused the blond to let out a—in his opinion—very manly shriek.
"EHHH!" A blush furiously raced its way up Naruto's neck, ears and cheeks, and he continued to splutter to the phone, disbelieving and embarrassed by whatever Shikamaru told him.
"Well, yes, but—It's not a date!" Naruto protested loudly on the phone, uncaring whether the tenant beside him pounded in frustration on the wall in order to protest against his noisy exclamations.
There was a sudden pause, before, "Yeah, yeah, it's not a date. Yep, not a date—Shika, never a date, because he's just too good for any of us—" Naruto might not have noticed that he sounded down with his own words, but the genius on the other line sure did.
"—That's not what I meant!" Naruto took a deep breath and wondered how Shikamaru could say things that made him question his sanity all over again. "No, no, I don't want it to be a date!"
"Yes, he called me and told me that he'd pick me up this Friday, but—it's not a date!" Naruto's protest sounded weak, but he didn't care. It's not a date! Sasuke probably thought of it as another thing to be finished by the end of the week; this… appointment was probably only one of those things posted in his post-it notes, to be thrown away without second thought after it was over…
The conversation continued on for a long while into the night, two sides arguing over the matter, but it didn't change one thing.
Sasuke asked Naruto out to sleep over at his mansion for the whole weekend.
To Be Continued
…To those who are rather strict with details—they can change seats in this class (since in prologue, Sasuke's at the back). Wah, there's Sasuke angst!
Updates: I'm truly flattered that a ton of people emailed me to ask if I'm still alive –sweatdrop- I hope you haven't forgotten about this fic yet:D
Advertisement: I posted some new oneshots and I hope you all review them too! XD Oh, and I made a livejournal, where I posted some drabbles that I haven't posted here in They could serve well to those who want to read some of my stuff while waiting for updates, LOL
It's short, but it's the best place to stop :( I'm still joggling studies with writing, and it resulted to me not having enough time.
Lots of reviews would make me very happy. Happiness makes me write faster c",)
Please review :)
