Chapter 4: Mistaken Love
Sakura smiled as she pulled her white teacup to her lips and sipped on the hot liquid, her long pink hair braided and thrown over her shoulder.
Sasuke sat across from her at the small table, his denim-clad legs crossed as he stared at a trail of ants on the ground, each one holding a small bread crumb and carrying the treasures back to their colony.
The couple was outside in the garden, seated at a tiny, round umbrella table that offered a cone of shade from the glaring white heat of the sun.
Sasuke liked that particular section of the estate. It was filled with a diverse manner of greenery, some plants that weren't even native to this area, and vast myriads of flowers that waved in the cool breeze, each brightly colored enough to be spotted from miles away.
It was all so perfect. Sasuke found it humorously deceiving actually, considering all the ridiculous drama that had been taking over.
Sakura set her cup down on the glass table with a light clank and crossed her arms on the surface. "So, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke's coal eyes flicked to her direction, finding a small smile aimed at him.
The girl giggled softly and tilted her head. "I was wondering what flower arrangements you would like to have at the wedding." She looked up thoughtfully and placed a finger on her chin. "I thought perhaps a mixture of different colored roses." She brightened and spread out her arms in the shape of a large bowl. "A big bouquet of them as a centerpiece on every table! Does that sound nice to you?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't care about –" he stopped himself, almost saying 'the damn wedding', but then he remembered: that was all he was supposed to care about.
The young man sighed with exasperation and stared at the woman across the table. "I mean... I don't care for doing that sort of thing. I'm sure whatever you choose will be... lovely, Sakura," he stated with as much sincerity as he could muster.
His fiancé showed utter flattery at his words and placed one of her hands over his. "Oh thank you Sasuke-kun! But I want your opinions too! You're as much a part of this as I am! In fact, you're half of it!"
Sasuke groaned.
Sakura smiled and patted his hand before pulling her own back and folding them on her lap, remembering he wasn't one for contact. "Now, what do you think about the roses? Should we put them somewhere besides the tables?" She asked.
Sasuke glared at her lightly. 'How about shoved up–'
His thoughts cut off at a buzzing that came to life in his pocket. Sakura blinked as Sasuke pulled out his phone and held up a finger to silence her. He flipped it open and read the ID, eyes widening the smallest bit before glancing at her. "I'm sorry, I have to take this."
The girl gave him a blank look before shaking her head and nodding once. "Of course, go ahead Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke nodded to her and stood up, pressing the talk button as he did and walking away from the girl. He pulled the device to his ear, a smirk on his lips. "You have no idea how much I love you right now."
The man on the other line chuckled: "Wedding preparations, I'm assuming."
Sasuke rounded a large rose-bush and stopped beside a spurting fountain, shoving his free hand into his pocket, out of hearing distance from Sakura. "You do know what assuming does, yes? It makes an ass out of you."
The man waited for him to say the rest, becoming irked when Sasuke didn't and completed the expression for him: "And me."
Sasuke's smirk grew. "I already said that."
The other snorted a laugh. "Yes, you are a clever one aren't you?"
Sasuke smiled and looked at the fountain. "What do you want Itachi?"
"Just to congratulate my otouto on his beautiful engagement with his beautiful bride."
Sasuke scoffed. "Yeah, real beautiful. Weren't you the one who just called me clever? We both know that load of crap is not the reason you're calling me."
The elder Uchiha chuckled deeply. "No, I suppose it isn't. But I have heard a piece of interesting news – what is this about you staying at your bride's home? Taking our false affections a bit far, aren't we Sasuke?"
Dark brows bunched up in confusion. 'How would you know? You've been disowned and kicked out.'
After a moment of thought Sasuke shrugged, deciding he didn't really care how his brother came about information of a family he no longer belonged to. His lips tilted: "Who says my affections for her are false?"
"Do not take me for a fool, Sasuke."
"Aniki, only fools let their emotions control their lives. You've shown very clearly that yours influence your decisions. So in my book, you are a fool."
"I fell in love with him; you cannot 'control' things like that."
Sasuke snorted. "Then you are a fool for falling in love, especially with him. What the hell were you thinking? Didn't you two consider the shame it would bring our lineage?"
"Father got rid of him and I fairly quickly; there was no affect on it. But I don't expect you to understand where I'm coming from; it isn't as though you've ever been in love before."
Sasuke closed his eyes. "Che... love is for the weak." He paused and opened his eyes again. "How are you? Are you two getting off well?" He caught himself and quickly changed his words, "And by getting off I mean living, not... getting off."
Itachi laughed softly. "Yes, as well as can be expected."
Sasuke smiled, glad that his brother was holding up well. Personally, who he had chosen to spend his life with slightly disturbed Sasuke, and he had never cared much for the man, but Sasuke loved his brother and was overly supportive of him. Even if he could not show it outward or in public, Itachi knew he could turn to his otouto for anything.
Most of the time, they refused contact with one another because, like Sasuke, Itachi cared deeply for his brother. He did not like to risk the boy's position in the Uchiha family by speaking to his long forgotten sibling.
"Ano, what is this call really about?" Sasuke asked.
Itachi frowned at the inquiry. "I know you're not over there to bond with your future wife, Sasuke. I'll admit, I don't know the exact reason you've gone over there. However, I know you well enough to assume that you've gone for something that was shown to you at that house. You always did go to drastic measures to get what you want."
Sasuke smirked. Well, well, well, you aren't so much of a fool after all.
"It's a boy," Sasuke told him. Mentioning it would make sure Itachi didn't go snooping around and screw things up. Besides, his brother already knew about his furtive attraction to men.
"A boy?"
"Yes. A servant, actually. A very ardent one. His name is Naruto. He's quite amusing to be honest."
Itachi smiled. "You speak fondly of him."
Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly, even though Itachi couldn't see it. "He's in love with my fiancé."
Itachi slowly raised a brow. "Is he now? That's very... interesting."
"He becomes infuriated when I speak ill of her, but I enjoy toying with him."
The older boy caught the sadistic tone of Sasuke's words. A small knot tied in his stomach. "Sasuke, you aren't doing anything that could harm your reputation, are you?"
"And if I am? No one will know."
"That isn't wise Sasuke, what have you done with this boy so far?" He froze, eyes narrowing: "Or will it be more accurate if I say to this boy?"
Sasuke felt his lips spread out farther. "It was nice speaking to you, aniki."
"What? Wait –"
"I hope we can do it again soon."
"Sasuke! Don't you dare –"
"Goodbye." Sasuke hung up and snapped his phone shut.
Sasuke didn't enjoy it when Itachi's 'big brother protective mode' meddled in his affairs. He would do anything to make sure Sasuke didn't wind up like he had, or at least try and talk him out of anything that could.
But Sasuke was sure that screwing around with the little blond wouldn't mess up anything. It wasn't as though it was going to be a prolonged thing. Naruto was just another name for his list, that was all.
'My very, very, long list. One fuck and I'll be through with him, just like everyone else.'
He was just having fun playing with him a bit before he got there.
Sasuke tucked his phone into his pocket and looked back to where Sakura was probably still waiting for him. He grinned and turned, walking away in the opposite direction. x-X-0-X-x
The Night Before….
Naruto sighed heavily as he replayed what had happened in the bathroom earlier that day, like a nightmare that shadowed his every thought.
'How could that pale fucker have done that to Sakura? How can he disrespect her that way? Why can't he be grateful for her love? Why did he have to take advantage of it and drag me into it as well, when I'm already hurting enough?'
Naruto wouldn't hate Uchiha so much if he actually loved Sakura. He might have even grown to like him, knowing how happy he made her. The fact that he didn't love her, didn't even so much as care for her hurt Naruto. It hurt him because she didn't deserve that, any of it. She deserved what Naruto would give her if she showered him with half the emotion she gave to the Uchiha.
Naruto's lips tightened. 'What is that bastard doing with that emotion? He's spitting on it, stepping on it and ripping it to shreds.' Uchiha had tossed her love aside and turned around to jerk Naruto off in a bathroom.
Blue eyes widened. 'How could I have done that to Sakura? How could I?' He'd moaned and cried and screamed for that son of a bitch. The guilt eating away at him made his stomach twist and his chest burn.
Naruto's fingers came up to lightly skim over the lines on his cheeks. Memories the touch brought up lit his face with a smile before it fell to a frown.
Of course the first thing he'd wanted to do was tell Sakura what had happened, but after he thought about it, the Uchiha had already gotten what he wanted. Even if Sakura were to dump the pompous ass after Naruto told her – which would greatly satisfy the blond – she would also never forgive Naruto for being part of it, let alone for being the one to tell her.
Naruto decided that as long as it stayed as a guilty memory and never happened again, he would let it go. That he would not risk more hatred from Sakura for something that again, he'd really had no control over.
The sound of his door opening jarred Naruto from his thoughts. He looked up to find Ruka standing at the doorway. Her dark hair was done in curls, perfect ringlets falling to her pale shoulders, a silky, black dress hugging her frame and pooling at her feet, the neckline dropping all the way down to her navel. The light in his room was off, so the brightness of the hallway shone in from behind her, framing her as a silhouette, making a sinister picture.
Naruto's whole body flushed, as it always did whenever this woman was near him. His gaze quickly shot to the floor. Five years since the incident and he still could not look her in the eyes.
Ruka stared at the boy and sighed softly, turning her attention to the staircase. "My husband wants you to handle dinner. Please come down soon," she said calmly, voice carrying no real emotion.
Naruto nodded. He flinched when she closed the door, even though the action had been quiet and gentle.
Five years and still she acted as though nothing happened.
XxXxXxXxXXxXxXxXxX
Haruno Estate - 12 years ago...
Sakura let out a huge sigh of relief as she placed the last of the paint cans down on top of the white tarp. She stood up straight and wiped the sweat off her brow.
Naruto glanced at the rainbow of paints before looking at his new sister curiously. "Why are we going to paint?" He asked.
Sakura gave him an odd look. "Because it's your room."
Naruto blinked and smiled slightly. His room. He liked the sound of that. At the orphanage, he had had to share a room with three other boys.
He looked back at the large, four-poster bed. "Is that mine too?"
Sakura nodded, picking her brown hair up in a ponytail. "Of course. All yours."
His smile grew wider. The little blond could barely believe it. For his whole life 'bed' had meant half of one bunk bed to share with someone else.
'What am I gonna do with all this new space?' He paused momentarily, blinking twice and smiling when he realized the simplicity of the answer. ' Whatever I want.'
Naruto clapped his hands happily and turned back to the paint, brows furrowing when he noticed something. "Hey... where are the brushes?"
Sakura grinned: "Right here."
She fell to her knees and dunked both her hands into a can of yellow paint then pulled them back out and smiled up at her new brother, yellow droplets running down her bare arms.
"Awesome!" Naruto yelled with excitement before falling down with her and shoving his hands into a can of orange paint.
Sakura touched a hand to the wall and drew a circle with her forefinger and then some straight lines poking out from it. She pointed to the picture. "That's what I thought you were when I saw you!" She exclaimed, smiling at the boy next to her.
Naruto pulled back from leaving a handprint on the wall. He blinked twice at the girl's drawing. "You... thought I was a sponge?"
Sakura made a face. "No! The sun!"
The golden haired boy tilted his head. "Why?"
Sakura shrugged with a small tilt of her lips and started coloring in the yellow circle. "Your hair looks like it."
"Oh!" He grinned and dipped one hand into a can of red paint, trailing a finger across the white canvas to make two humps on the wall under his orange hand. When he finished, he leaned back. "This is what I thought when I saw you."
Sakura turned to his picture and laughed quietly.
It was a heart.
"Why?" She asked.
Naruto looked at her and shrugged as she had done. He poked the tip of her nose, leaving a red dot. "Because you're pretty," he said.
"Hey!" The girl cried, although she was flattered that he thought she was pretty. She shoved her hand into a green can and pulled it out, only to press it against Naruto's cheek in a playful slap.
Naruto swatted the appendage away. "Not that much!" He yelled before drawing a blue line across her forehead.
Moments later they were on each other, drawing over each other's faces and giggling uncontrollably. Their nanny came in to check on them, only to find the children sprawled on the floor covered head to toe in paint.
It wasn't long before Naruto found himself naked in a tub filled with bubbles, the paint slowly washing away from his body.
The woman finished taking off Sakura's skirt and panties and stood up. "I'm going to put your clothes to wash. You two made a real mess. Hurry and clean up so I can cook lunch for you," she said before leaving the room.
"Hai, Nana," Sakura said as she watched the Nanny leave.
Naruto blushed when Sakura came running up to the side of the tub and moved to climb in. He stopped her with a foamy hand. "What are you doing?"
She tilted her head. "Getting in. I need a bath."
Naruto's blush deepened. "We have to take turns."
Sakura shook her head. "Nana said 'now'."
"She did not!"
Sakura opened her mouth to protest when her eyes suddenly caught what was between Naruto's legs beneath the water. She blinked and pointed to it. "What's that?" She asked bluntly.
"What?" Naruto looked to where she was pointing and eyed her strangely. "My peepee."
The girl gave his penis a curious look. "It's weird... can I touch it?"
"What? No!"
"Why not?"
"Touch yours!"
Sakura looked down at her own privates and frowned. "But I don't have one."
Naruto cocked his head and peeked over the tub, then shot back with a horrified gasp. "Where is it?!"
The girl shrugged. "I don't know. Let me touch yours."
Naruto shook his head rapidly and closed his legs. "No way! You already broke yours off!"
A sharp intake of breath pulled the children's attention to the door where Sakura's mother stood with a hand over her mouth.
She had come home early.
"What is going on here? Sakura why are you covered in paint?" She questioned and moved to pick up her daughter. She glanced at Naruto and bent down to wipe her thumb across his cheek, picking up more dripping paint. "You too Naruto? What happened?"
"Mommy why don't I have one of those?" Sakura asked, completely ignoring Ruka's questioning as she pointed to Naruto's penis again.
The woman's eyes widened and she turned Sakura's face away. "Where is Nana?"
"Mommy!" Sakura cried, trying to look back at the tub.
Naruto stared up at his adopted mother. "She's washing our clothes. We had to clean up."
"Together?"
The blond shrugged with a light flush. "She said so. But I told Sakura to take turns."
Ruka smiled at the boy and ruffled his hair. "Thank you sweet-heart. Go ahead and finish up your bath."
Naruto nodded and watched Ruka turn and leave, Sakura pouting at him over her shoulder. He gave her a grin.
And wouldn't you know it; the action melted her anger like ice under the sun. She grinned right back.
XxXxXxXxXXxXxXxXxX
The moonlight spilling in from the window illuminated Naruto as he rolled off his bed and slid his hand between the mattress and the box spring.
He pulled out a frog wallet bloated with cash. With deft movements – as he didn't like to have the wallet out for too long – the blond reached for the pants he'd worn that day lying on the floor and pulled out a roll of money from a pocket. He stuffed it into the frog and closed it back up.
Even though he'd been forced into servitude, Sakura's father did pay him for his work – once a month. It wasn't much, but he'd been saving for years and he almost had enough to accomplish his goal.
He sighed and pushed the frog wallet back into its hiding spot, pulling out another animal, a stuffed fox.
Naruto stared at the smiling creature in his hands and pulled it to his chest, hugging it. His eyes slid closed.
"Playing with dolls, dobe?"
Naruto froze, lids flying open. The door to his room shut and his heart picked up speed as footsteps neared him.
Never had Naruto hated so much the fact that his room did not have a lock.