Toxicum

by DangerRosa

oHigh School AUo Sometimes fate has a weird way of kicking you when you're down. And sometimes, you just have to roll with it all the while pretending you can come out sane. Slash. SasNar

4. Bribing the Sun

Disclaimer: Pshaw. What's the use in owning the manga when I can just write whatever I want in fanfiction? (Plus, if I owned it, the quality of the art would decrease quite dramatically… Eh heheheh.)

Pairings: SasNar

Warnings: Mature language and there will be some YAOI later on. Because of these two factors, I'm thinking that the rating will go up some time. Not sure when, but keep on your toes, kay?

NOTE: In this Fic, Gaara does not go all emo on us. I dislike Gaara always acting like, "Oh, look a knife. Excuse me as I slice myself to ribbons, if you'd be so kind" in FanFictions. So… yeah. No emo. Believe it.

Chapter 4: Bribing the Sun

Not a single rock was in one whole piece by the time Naruto was done searching the nearby town for any sign for his dear friend. Hours had gone by, and despite his comment that he would "most likely be back later," Naruto knew that school would be letting out soon.

And he still hadn't caught so much as a hint as to where Gaara was…

Panic had settled in on his mind and he desperately asked every person he saw whether they had seen Gaara. Almost every single person had said they didn't—it'd be fairly easy to spot a red-head—while two or three had merely commented that the weather-was-nice-don't-you-think-so?-And-why-is-someone-your-age-running-around-in-a-frenzy-during-school-hours-hmm?-Whipper-snappers-these-days-I-swear…

Neither response was any help and Naruto was beginning to lose hope when someone suddenly someone from behind grabbed him and unceremoniously threw him into the darkness of an alley-like juncture beside a restaurant. He blinked several times to gain his bearings before glaring at the hard-to-make-out figure. He opened his mouth to give a hot retort and demand what the hell the person thought he was doing but the figure spoke first.

"Keep quiet."

Normally, Naruto would've snorted and given a witty reply—something like "And who's going to make me, shithead?" Instead, his mouth closed with a snap of his teeth and he found he was waiting for further dialogue.

The voice was low and had a rumble to it. It was indeed a men and he spoke with a tone that was completely nonchalant and careless. For some reason, Naruto knew that the man could kill him where he stood and not at all be affected. That realization was why Naruto had obeyed the earlier command.

"You don't know me, but I know a great deal about you."

The blond was slightly taken aback. He hadn't been expecting the guy to speak again so soon for some reason. The surprise wore off soon, however, and was replaced with a mixture of fear and curiousness. "Really, now?" he responded skeptically before he had a chance to stop himself.

There was a pause as the figure came closer, feet making absolutely no sound against the pavement. He stopped several inches away from Naruto. "Yes, and I have some… helpful advice for you."

Oh? Really now? Naruto raised a brow. "And that is?"

The sun glinted off a passing car's window and for a second the reflected light ran over than man's face. He found himself staring into blood red eyes for a second before the light moved on. That wasn't exactly… normal. Naruto swallowed as the man spoke again.

"Stay away from Sasuke."

There was no last name attached but somehow Naruto knew he was referring to Uchiha Sasuke and didn't answer. Seconds ticked by before the silence was broken.

"I do believe you're searching for a red-head?"

Whatever the blond expecting the guy to say, that certainly wasn't on his list. Azure orbs blinked slowly as he thought about how to properly reply. "How is that any of your concern?" he asked slowly. While his question wasn't the most elegant, it was the first thing that popped in his head.

The man didn't answer his question. "Just go to the oak."

Naruto was puzzled, truly he was. Any fear he held towards the guy was gone and he was one hundred percent curious now. "What do you mean—and who are you, anyway?"

Despite the dim lighting, the blond could see that the figure was pulling up a hood. Without another word, the man turned and stepped into the slightly-busy sidewalk. Idly, Naruto noted that the guy was wearing a long, black, trench-like coat complete with a hood. He was going to yell something else to the retreating man, but for some reason, his mind's thought process had turned slightly sluggish.

The figure was long gone among the increasing crowd and Naruto felt his legs grow weak. He collapsed onto the wall of the brick restaurant, thoughts muddled.

"I do believe you're searching for the red-head?"

How the hell did the guy know about Gaara?

"Just go to the oak."

And what the hell did he mean by that? The blond pondered the possibilities for many minutes, but he came up with nothing. Was there an Oak Street or something nearby?

"No," he murmured to himself, shaking his head. For some reason, he felt the answer was easier than that. A moment passed as he forced himself to think of all the possibilities. Suddenly, his eyes fluttered closed as realization dawned in his mind. "Of course."

---

There is an old grade school that is close to closing down due to the fact that not enough children are registering there, instead taking a favor in the newer, better elementary school. Twenty meters outside the back entrance, there's an even older tree which is the oldest in the area. Hanging from the tree's lowest branch is a swing.

Naruto knew the small area beneath the branches of the tree—the oak tree—like he knew the back of his hand. He had spent many hours swinging under the shade of the leaves when he had no one to hang with—until he met Gaara. And even after he had Gaara, he still found himself swinging on the rope swing—until the red-head complained he had a long enough turn and that it was his turn. That spot had turned into their spot.

So Naruto considered himself a fool for not thinking of it sooner—and how the hell had the man known about this spot?

He shook his head as he stopped about fifteen meters from the elderly tree. He swallowed as he saw the unmistakable brownish-red hair it the shadows the impossibly tall oak made. He let out a breath of relief as he closed the distance between him and the tree. He stopped next to the trunk and allowed a hand to slowly travel up to rest on the thick bark. It had been a while since he had been here. He had moved around so much through different towns and cities that he hadn't had time to come back since fifth grade until now.

"Gaara," he called softly.

Said boy didn't react right away. He merely sat numbly on the swing, rocking slightly, staring off into space. Finally, though, he turned his head slowly to meet Naruto gaze.

The blond was a little disturbed when he saw that Gaara's eyes were completely void of all emotion; they were dead, blank.

"Have you been here all day?" he asked quietly.

Gaara nodded slowly.

A small silence formed and Naruto swallowed. 'Are you alright?' was not something he was allowed to ask. It was obvious the boy was not alright; he had lost his brother, he wasn't supposed to be alright. What type of heartless bastard was alright after the death of a loved one?

Instead, Naruto found himself saying, "We'll get through this. I promise." The moment the words left his mouth, he had to mentally cringe at the corniness of them.

Gaara didn't react. He just stared mutely, his dead eyes not giving away any emotion.

"Temari's worried, Gaara, you shouldn't have just disappeared," he chastised softly. "And I was worried, too, you know? We weren't—" He cut himself off. There was no way he was going to say We weren't sure what state of mind you were in. Oh, and by the way, do you happen to have any pointy objects on your person? I'm supposed to take them away from you if you do for your own health.

"I wasn't going to hurt anyone," was all the red-head said. "I'm not…" He drifted off, his gaze traveling to the lowering sun.

Naruto knew what he had been trying to say: I'm not a monster. He took a few steps forward until he was next to his friend and turned Gaara's head away from the sky with his hand. "You're going to damage your eyes," he scolded.

Instantly, a pale hand wrapped around his wrist and jade eyes bored into his sapphire. The fingers encircled around his wrist tightened slightly as Gaara's other hand slowly traveled to his cheeks, ghosting over the purple-hued skin. Naruto winced slightly. Even though Gaara wasn't actually touching him, his nerves were still frazzled from the pain and as such were extremely sensitive.

"I don't know why you put up with it."

Naruto was taken aback at how emotional Gaara's voice was. He searched emerald orbs and found them no longer dead but full of anger and frustration.

He shook his head. He wasn't sure why, but words failed him and it was all he could think of to do in response. So instead his hand rose to cover Gaara's and gently he pulled the fingers away from the sore skin. He shook his head again and offered a smile, not exactly sure what he was doing or why, but knowing that it was the right way to react.

Gaara stared at him for a few seconds before his mossy green eyes drifted over to his hand that was still in Naruto's grip. He looked at it for several long seconds before slipping his hand out of Naruto's.

"I was starting to wonder if you'd come," he murmured softly, gaze redirecting to the sun once again.

Naruto grinned. "Of course I'd come. I'll always come."

A soft, barely noticeable sigh escaped Gaara's lips.

"Oi! Didn't I say not to look into the sun?" Naruto waved his hand in front of Gaara's face.

The red-head gave him a dry look and he grinned cheekily. "Ready to go? 'Mari might kick your ass, and if that's the case, we better get back before sunset—she might show some mercy if we do," he teased.

Naruto turned and took a step to leave, but something tugged lightly on the fabric of his shirt. A little surprised, he looked over his shoulder only to see Gaara was staring down at the ground—or, at least, his head was bent towards the ground. Copper colored locks were hanging in his face, the setting sun causing a shadow to hide most of his face.

Naruto remained silent as Gaara found his voice after several seconds. "Thank you." It was a gently whisper, but Naruto heard it. It was probably the first time Gaara had ever said that…

"Eh? You say something, Gaara-chan?"

The red-head slowly looked up and met his gaze. "I said nothing," he replied dryly, giving him a look that matched his tone.

Naruto grinned as he turned again and stepped out of the grip his friend still had on his shirt. "Oh, good." Then he laughed. "You coming, Raccoon Eyes?"

Gaara snorted at the nickname and crossed his arms as he followed. "I do so hate you sometimes," he grumbled.

"Aw, Gaara, how can you hate a face like mine?" Naruto teased.

"It's easy once you look at it."

Naruto gave an indignant squawk.

---

"What the fuck is wrong with you! You were supposed to call hours ago!"

Naruto winced as he held the phone a good foot away from his face before bringing it back to squeeze in his own comment. "But I it took a while—"

"I don't care if you ran into the empress of Russia!" the voice snapped back.

"But- But, Kiba… If I tell you something really—"

"I'll give you three seconds to give me a good reason why I shouldn't maim you where you stand."

"Um, well, because you aren't here?" he drawled, rolling his eyes.

"I can phone maim you," Kiba indignantly retorted after a pause. "And stop changing the subject on me!"

Naruto gave an amused grin. "Alright, I'm sorry. There, happy? I'll let you chew me out tomorrow. Right now I have to get home and try to do some homework."

There was a pause before Kiba growled again. "You're sure you're fine? No broken bones? Internal bleeding? Bruises? Cuts? Sawed off ears?"

Naruto made a face at the last one before shaking his head and chuckling. "Nothing. I'm fine."

Kiba hesitated.

"Perfectly fine," the blond stressed.

"Well…"

"For Naruto's sake, what are you doing? If he said he was fine, he's fine," Naruto heard the muffled sound of Shino's sharp reprimanding.

There was a shuffle as Kiba most likely covered the mouth piece with a hand and replied, "Oh, yeah? Well, for all we know, he could've gotten kidnapped and now his captor is calling so no one would be suspicious," Kiba replied, slightly muffled. There was a pause before another shuffle—Kiba taking his hand away from the phone—and he continued, "You are really Naruto, aren't you? If you hurt him, I swear to the gods, I'll kick your sorry—"

"For Naruto's sake!" Shino snapped in the background. Naruto himself blinked as he finally realized what Shino was saying—for Naruto's sake? They were swearing by him now? Sweet. Was he some sort of god and he didn't even know about it? The thought made him mentally laugh. "Say goodbye now and give me my phone back."

"Yeah, mother," Naruto piped in, stifling his laughter.

Kiba grumbled something that sounded like You just wait. When Naruto turns up missing, it'll be my turn to have the last laugh, before grumbling a goodbye and handing the phone over to Shino.

"Sorry about him," Shino said once he had the phone. "He's just… protective of his friends."

Naruto chuckled. "S'fine. You haven't seen protective until you get to know Gaara. See ya tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow," Shino replied.

They both hung up.

Naruto let the phone slip from his fingers to slide between the cloth of his pants into his pocket. Suddenly, the adrenaline that had been pumping through his veins receded as the realization that Gaara was alive and well sank in—though there had never been a reason to believe any harm had befallen the red-head from the beginning. Naruto's muscles were protesting his movements after being used all day to flip the entire city upside down.

He rolled his neck as he started meandering aimlessly through the familiar area. Memories flashed through his mind and for a second it was like he was once again a small child, grinning maniacally as he skillfully dodged between the metal bars of the jungle gym, intent on getting to the top…

He blinked and the sound of sweet childish laughter faded from his ears. The memory faded from his eyes and he was left alone again, his only company being his elongating shadow.

Oh, this is so stupid, he berated himself as he turned and started off down the memorized street. He had to admit, he wasn't looking all too forward to getting home. Ebisu had most likely been faithful to his promise to call Arashi and give a full report on Naruto's 'inappropriate behavior.' Tch, and most likely once the stupid teacher realized that his exaggeration of his rebellious actions only served to anger the man, he would most likely start to add details that weren't all too accurate. Arashi would most likely profusely thank the man then for his generosity in sharing the information, latching onto every word said, nearly memorizing it, before releasing the anger of a god on the blond.

Naruto wasn't so sure he wanted to go home anymore. He could kiss that picture Mizuki had good bye. There was no way he was going to get it now. He sighed. It was an exhausted, defeated sound.

The sun was nearly hidden completely from view by that point, only a fraction of it actually visible. The dying rays painted a brilliant picture in the sky, dying it a multitude of colors. Naruto was willing to bet not a single artist that had ever live could fully depict the beauty of the sight.

Another sigh escaped his lips, but this time it was one of contentment.

"It is quite lovely, isn't it?" a soft voice murmured as if reading his thoughts.

"Mm-hmm," he idly hummed just as gently in agreement, eyes still locked on the breath-taking scene.

"Though it'll be late soon. Don't you think you should get home?"

"Mm-hm—" Abruptly, Naruto cut himself off as he turned to face the new arrival. "Ah—Sasuke. Sorry I, uh, wasn't exactly paying attention…"

"I could tell," the raven replied, smirking.

"Che, teme."

"So what are you doing out by yourself? You don't exactly live around here."

Naruto shrugged, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Eh. Not much, just… wandering around…"

"Mm, I thought you were a little smarter than that to hang around this area of town alone so close to dark." Sasuke looked him over carefully, most likely checking for any wounds or extra appendages.

"I'm not scared."

Sasuke's hard, impassive expression didn't change in the least. "Sometimes not fearing something isn't the wisest choice."

The blond shot him a look. "What the hell are you going on about?"

He shrugged in reply, deciding not to elaborate. "So were you heading home or something?" he asked instead, turning his gaze to the sunset.

Something constricted around Naruto's heart. "I'm scared," he admitted.

Briefly, Sasuke's eyes flicked to him before returning to the edge of the sky. "Scared of what?" He was about to add Thought you just said you weren't scared, dobe, when the other continued.

"Just…" Naruto bit his lip. "I'm not really sure."

"Liar," the raven softly accused.

Blue eyes darted to the dirty sidewalk beneath him. "I'm… serious. I'm not sure."

Sasuke snorted. "Okay. Sure, I believe you."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Sarcasm not appreciated." He didn't receive any reply from the raven so he decided to change the topic. "So, uh, thanks for letting me borrow your, um… iPhone earlier."

"Hn."

Upon hearing the one syllable response, Naruto resisted the urge to twitch. "And I suppose I should say sorry for almost getting caught."

"Hn."

Oh, that—Naruto ground his teeth but managed to resist finishing the thought. "But I didn't get caught. So that's all that matters, right? Right?"

"Hn."

"Oh, for the love of all that I consider holy! What is your problem? Would it hurt you to grace someone with an actual answer?"

"Che, hn."

Naruto growled. "I oh-so hate you."

"The feeling is mutual."

"Then why are you talking to me?" the blond howled.

"Che, usuratonkachi."

"Teme," Naruto retorted hotly.

"Dobe."

"Teme."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Your maturity barely challenges that of a gnat."

Naruto raised a brow. "A knack?" he questioned, obviously mishearing. "What the hell?"

Sasuke didn't reply to that, resisting the urge to slap his forehead in exasperation. "You should be getting home," he said instead.

Naruto gave him a dirty look. "I don't see how it concerns you on whether or not I decide to go home. You should be happy if I stay out here and just die, right? You hate me. So what does it matter?"

Sasuke returned his look with one of his own. "Don't act so melodramatic. You have a family who'll be concerned when they see you're not there. You should really think about them."

The blond blinked before masking his expression, making it completely unreadable. "They will, huh?" he said simply in a toneless voice that was neither a whisper nor a statement. "I'll worry them? When was the last time I actually worried them, I wonder?"

Sasuke sighed. A part of him was slightly surprised he was still acting social with the blond. Another part of him was pleased he was able to associate with the dobe. But hearing the hyper idiot sounding so… dead made something stir within the back of his mind.

Sasuke hated it when someone made him feel emotional. He really, really hated it—because he hadn't gotten emotional in a good five or six years, maybe longer; definitely longer.

Hearing Naruto give a humorless chuckle did nothing to appease him. "Sasuke, you ever feel frustrated because someone else has power over you? No matter how much you struggle and try to buck free, they still have you under their thumb… And you realize too late that you're trapped."

"Dobe."

Naruto slowly looked over at him. He looked almost on the verge of tears.

Sasuke chuckled. "Now who's being melodramatic?" he questioned teasingly.

The blond blinked before narrowing his eyes. "Just shut up."

Sasuke thwapped the back of his head. "Che. Come on, then. I'll walk you home."

Naruto crinkled his nose but jogged off after the other boy. "Corny-much, teme?"

"Che. Be glad I'm doing this at all."

"Awwww," he drawled sarcastically. "I forgot! Sociopath Uchiha is actually taking the time from his very busy schedule to actually walk me home." Cue a lopsided grin on the blond's part. "But you know, if you wanted to spend time with me that badly, you could've just asked."

"Another word from you and I'll hail a taxi."

"Oh, why don't you do that, anyway? It's kinda a long walk and—"

"And I'll get in—alone—and go home," he clarified.

Naruto's bottom lip puffed out slightly in a pout. "Meany. Can't I go with you? We live right near each other, right?"

Sasuke blinked. "We do—?" At the look the blond gave him, something clicked in his mind and he continued, "Ah. Yes, we do."

Naruto snickered. "Baka Sasuke-teme forgot where he lived."

Sasuke swallowed his original retort with ease—"No, I forgot I said I lived by you"—and instead replied, "More like I forgot where you lived, dobe."

The snickering continued. "Even better still. Oh"—the laughing abruptly stopped as a thought occurred to the blond—"You'll have to tell me where you live so I can stop by some time."

"It doesn't matter. I would never want you over at my house," Sasuke replied immediately, words curt and dismissive. Despite the fact that Sasuke's tone clearly said the matter was resolved, Naruto persisted.

"Teme! You know where I live, so what would it hurt if I knew where your house was? What? Is the great and mighty Uchiha afraid that if he tells someone the location of his nest, he'll get stalkers out the wazoo?" (1)

Sasuke shot him a sideways reproachful glance. "There are times in life when you are supposed to shut up and enjoy silence, dobe."

Naruto looked over and blinked at him. "Thanks for the memo…?" he replied, not exactly sure what he was to make with the new information.

"What I'm saying is that now is one of those times."

Naruto's eyes brightened in understanding before darkening as the words actually sank in. "Oi!" he protested, before suddenly chuckling. Sasuke spared a slightly confused glance at his shift in mood. "That's a weird way to tell someone to shut up," Naruto continued by way of explanation. "You have to be sophisticated in everything, don't you?"

Sasuke wasn't exactly sure what to make of that, so instead of replying, he 'said' what he did best—

"Hn."

—And Naruto resisted the urge to throttle him. "Teme," he growled warningly. Sasuke didn't show any signs he heard. Naruto sighed and raked his fingers through his unruly blond locks in exasperation and slight frustration. "Why is everything so difficult with you?" he grumbled.

Sasuke gave a small roll of his dark eyes. After, a small silence fell over them that was only broken from the sounds of life around them—passing cars and the occasional twittering of birds in general.

Many long, peaceful moments passed as they traveled closer and closer to Naruto's home. Naruto spent this time allowing his mind to wander. Mostly, he thought about how much of a bastard Sasuke was and how he would be so much cooler if he would even act a little bit friendlier. These thoughts, of course, brought up questions on how his parents treated him and brought him up.

And that was how Naruto remembered that he had no information on Sasuke at all—and neither did the Internet. And Sasuke was right beside him acting as a living, breathing Sasuke-tionary. Or something to that affect…

"Ne, Sasuke?" He made sure to keep his excitement in check as the raven looked over at him. "What do your parents do for a living?"

Of course there were thousands of other questions that Naruto was dying to ask, but somehow, the familial bond had always been a favorite topic to him. Probably because of his own parental problems and his wish to know his real parents—his birth parents. Whatever it was that caused it, usually one of the first questions he asked people had to do with their parents.

Naruto looked over at the raven when he didn't answer, excitement still bubbling around in his gut. However, the moment he saw Sasuke's expression, it was like that bubbly feeling had been doused with frigidly freezing cold water. Sasuke wasn't looking at him, but Naruto knew that he was glaring. His face was completely expressionless, but his hands were clenched tightly by his sides.

"Sasuke—?"

Sasuke cut him off curtly. "They're dead."

Oh. Well, shit.

"I'm sorry to hear."

And he truly, truly was.

"If it, uh… makes up for my stupidity on asking you that, my parents are dead, too." He didn't normally talk about his birth parents—in fact, he never talked about them, period—but he felt almost like he had to tell Sasuke that for some reason.

Sasuke's obsidian eyes flicked over in his direction. He noted that the glare was gone as the other boy took him in for a second. But then, low and behold, Sasuke's eyes narrowed again. Naruto had to wonder if glaring, scowling, and smirking were the only thing that Sasuke was capable of doing. It sure seemed like it at times.

"Then just who do you live with?" Sasuke asked, his tone slightly icy.

It took a few seconds for the incentive behind the question to sink in and Naruto blinked. What the—? Did the bastard honestly believe—?

"Why would I lie to you?" Naruto asked and he sincerely meant it. There was no reason to lie about something like that.

"If this is some sick joke, Uzumaki, rest assured—"

Naruto held both of his hands up and stopped walking. "Sasuke, I would never lie about my parents. They were—I suppose they still are important to me. I never had a chance to meet them, but…" He drifted off, unsure as to what he was trying to convey.

"So then your parents died before you met them?"

Naruto cocked his head, slightly startled at the soft tone. "They died right after my first birthday. So yeah, I don't remember them." He was even more startled at his own gentle, sentimental tone.

Okay, corny moment must now end, Naruto thought to himself as he gave a cheeky grin. "I was adopted when in kindergarten right after I turned five."

Sasuke snorted as he started off again. Naruto scurried after him as they resumed their trek. "So then you do have parents, usuratonkachi."

Naruto made a face and resisted the urge to say that he would never call the Toujis actual parents. Maybe when he was younger, but not anymore. "Teme, my birth parents still died, though!"

"I suppose so."

Naruto shot him a look and stuck his tongue out before a thought struck him. "Oh, right. So then who takes care of you?"

Sasuke wrinkled his nose momentarily. "The pervert who is our history teacher."

Naruto's eyes widened and his head whipped over in Sasuke's direction. "Kakashi! Dude, is he certified to be a guardian? Wouldn't he, like, corrupt your mind with all his perversion?" Naruto gave a horrified sound. "Are you a pervert, teme?"

"Alright, let's get this one straight," Sasuke told him. "I am in no way like anyone but myself. I'm not like Kakashi, I'm not like my parents, and I am not like my brother. Understand?"

Naruto held up both of his hands again in a 'whoa, let's freeze' gesture. "I get what you mean. I never said anything about being like Kaka—brother?" Naruto blinked as he replayed what Sasuke had said in his mind as accurately as he could. "What? You have a brother?"

Sasuke's let out a small sigh. A small tremble of barely repressed anger rippled through him. "Yes, I have a brother," he replied tersely.

"Touch subject?" Naruto guessed.

"What gave you that idea?" Sasuke shot him an icy look of reproach.

He bristled. "Hold it, teme. There's no need to get so defensive."

The look Sasuke gave him suggested otherwise and Naruto momentarily wondered what sort of relationship the two Uchiha siblings had.

"So what about you, then?"

Naruto blinked and turned his attention back to Sasuke. "Hm?"

Sasuke shot him a look. He definitely didn't enjoy repeating himself. "Do you have any siblings?" After a second, he added, "Dobe."

"Oi! Teme! Don't call me that!" Naruto pouted. "And no, I'm an only child as far as I know."

"Che, I should've guessed an idiot like you wouldn't have any siblings," Sasuke grumbled.

Naruto's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "You really have some problems, you know that?"

"Hn."

"Yeah, yeah, teme. 'Hn' to you, too." Naruto sighed. So, it turned out that asking Sasuke anything wasn't going to do him any good, after all—though he really shouldn't have been surprised by this thought. However, Naruto was a persistent, stubborn creature. So instead of letting the topic die, he asked another question.

"Soooo… do you like music?" (2) He honestly wasn't sure where the question came from, but it was the first thing that his mind came up with since he was trying to keep off the topic of family since it seemed to be a bit of touchy subject with Sasuke.

"Music is mostly a waste of time."

Naruto froze and turned to give him a wide-eyed stare. "What?"

Sasuke also stopped to return the stare and shrugged uncaringly. "There's nothing wrong with not liking music, dobe. Some people don't like reading, others don't like sports, for me, I don't like music.

Naruto continued to gape at him, jaw muscles slack. He shook his head slowly. "Not… not even Gackt?"

"No," Sasuke replied firmly.

"Arashi?" Naruto tried again.

"No," Sasuke drawled, growing bored.

Naruto was looking at him with shock. "…Kat-Tun?"

"No."

"What's wrong with you?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke's brow rose. "I could ask you the same thing. Why would you waste your time on such trivial things?"

"Tuh- Tuh- Tuh- Tr—" Naruto had appeared to have gone into shock, complete with ashen skin, wide eyes, and stuttering, all the while gaping much like a fish.

Sasuke's eyebrows crinkled. "Dobe?"

"Tri- Tri- Tri—"

Sasuke knew something how to diagnose something as healthy and unhealthy, and this was most certainly unhealthy. "Dobe! Snap out of it!"

That seemed to do the trick. Naruto's eyes snapped into focus and narrowed. "You know what? I'm going to prove to you that music isn't 'trivial' as you say," he informed the raven, making finger quotes when he said 'trivial.'

Sasuke grew slightly exasperated. "And how are you going to do that?"

Naruto pouted. "I'll think of a way," he insisted.

Sasuke glanced over in his direction and he didn't fail to notice how his eyes lingered on the light patches of color that stained Naruto's whisker marks. Naruto let out a small breath, a feeling of doom impending on him as he realized that Sasuke had no intention of letting it slide. He braced himself for the question and, low and behold, he was not disappointed.

"What happened to your face?"

"Eh?" Naruto blinked, playing dumb. "My face? There's something wrong with it?" He lifted his fingers so they hovered right above his cheeks.

Sasuke wasn't fooled. "You can stop playing innocent, dobe."

"Innocent?" Sasuke gave Naruto a sharp look and he swallowed. "I just fell is all. No worries."

Obsidian eyes full of incredible intensity stared into his cobalt. Naruto had to lock the joints in his legs to keep from shrinking backwards at the look. When the dark haired man took several steps towards him, he felt like a deer caught in headlights. While Naruto was definitely afraid of what the Uchiha planned to do, part of him just wanted to step forward and assist in shortening the distance between them. Naruto's breath momentarily froze when Sasuke stopped with barely half a meter separating them and slowly lifted his hand.

At first, Naruto wasn't sure what Sasuke was going to do and purely on instinct, his body tensed and his eyes slammed shut in preparation for any type of attack. He could feel his blood pulsating right between the two bones of his collar bone as he waited. But instead of a sharp taunt or vicious strike, he felt two fingers ghost over his bruises. Sasuke didn't press down, instead letting his fingers just whisper above Naruto's skin.

Slightly surprised, Naruto slowly opened one eye to peek out. "S- Sasuke?" The look on the raven's face was one that Naruto couldn't quite place.

Sasuke shook his head, his hand falling down to his side and burying itself in the pocket of his pants. "C'mon, dobe. You're house is just down here."

"O- Oi, I know where I live!" Naruto indignantly replied, shaking himself of what just happened.

"Hn."

"Are we back to that again?"

"Hn."

"You know, I think I could ask you anything and you would reply with that 'hn' of yours."

"Hn."

"Urrrg!" Naruto growled. "You're so annoying! What is your problem?"

"Hn."

Naruto resisted the urge to slap his forehead. Instead, he sighed, "I sure do wish you'd actually say what you want to for once… Eh?" Naruto turned to look over his shoulder only to see that Sasuke had stopped, arms crossed. "Eh?" he repeated intelligently. "What's wrong with you this time, Sasuke-teme?"

"Dobe," Sasuke began calmly before gesturing in the general direction that was left of him. "Your home?" he finished.

Naruto blinked and looked over in the direction that Sasuke had pointed to. "Dah! Where did that come from!" he exclaimed, pointing.

"Ba. Ka," Sasuke teased lightly.

Naruto colored before stomping passed Sasuke and up his walkway. "I'm not even going to say good bye to you, you jackass," he growled loudly, not bothering to turn around. Naruto heard a 'hn' from behind him and ground his teeth. He froze, however, and squinted, leaning slightly to peer through the window.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke called from the sidewalk, apparently seeing Naruto's odd behavior.

"Yesss!" Naruto cheered, pumping his fist. He then did what was some sort of victory dance right there where he stood.

Sasuke wasn't sure whether to thwack the idiotic blond or be amused by the display. He wasn't sure what Naruto was so excited or why he was making such a scene. But with Naruto, it seemed that nothing really needed to be explained.

Naruto turned to face Sasuke and grinned merrily. "Ne, ne, Sasuke-teme, wanna come in?"

Sasuke raised a brow. Suddenly Naruto wanted to spend more time with him? Hn. Was this some sort of trick? Was he going to walk in and as he passed through the doorframe, something would fall on his head?

"And why would I do that, usuratonkachi?" he asked, crossing his arms—it seemed crossing his arms was his favorite thing to do that day.

"Teme!" Naruto nearly stamped his foot in frustration. Instead, he stomped back over to Sasuke and grabbed his arm. "For once, just listen to me, okay?" Naruto dragged the raven up to his front door and Sasuke glanced at him almost curiously.

"Won't your parents mind having an intruder?" he pointed out blandly.

"Nah, they're not home," Naruto replied, unlocking the door and pushing it open. He kicked off his shoes and pushed them into the corner with his feet. "In fact, that's the only reason why I'm letting you in at all."

Sasuke hesitantly peered around—checking for booby traps, no doubt—before taking a small step in. "Hn," he hummed. Almost immediately after stepping through the door frame, he tensed and braced himself for something—what that something was, he wasn't sure, but knowing the broody raven, it was most likely something painful and torturous. When nothing jumped out and went, "Ha! Gotcha! Now prepare yourself as I shove these cough drops down your throat!" he also slipped off his shoes. But instead of unceremoniously shoving them like Naruto had, he neatly placed them on the mat. (Though Sasuke would never admit it, he was half expecting some small creature to jump out and snatch his shoes before running off into the sunset cackling evilly.)

"Geez, teme. You really are a sophisticated neat freak."

Sasuke snorted. "Hardly," he replied blandly. "I just have something that you've probably never heard of—manners?"

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "Oh, har-har. Laugh it up, why don't you?" Sasuke didn't reply so instead Naruto turned, growing slightly excited. "Come on; come on!" he demanded.

Naruto gave him a very short and basic tour, not even bothering to step into each room he pointed out—"Over there is the living room, somewhere in that direction"—he waved in the general direction to his left—"is the kitchen. The room behind that door is the bathroom and that one is an extra room. And there are two other rooms back by the main door"—and Sasuke couldn't resist the urge to comment.

"Wow, dobe. I'm amazed at your skills. You ever think of going into professional touring for foreign countries?"

"Comment not appreciated," Naruto retorted. "Oh, yeah, and this is my room." He stopped and pushed open his bedroom door and immediately leaped at his bed, landing face-down in the quilts, legs and arms outstretched so he looked like a human X.

Sasuke pinched his nose at the display and daintily stepped in, his dark eyes almost immediately flicking around the room, taking in every aspect, nook, cranny, and fine detail.

"It's not going to attack you, ya know," Naruto commented dryly from atop of his bed as he flicked through a black binder.

"Hn." Though Sasuke still was so sure about that one… "What is that?" he murmured as he padded over to the bed, craning his neck slightly to check it out.

Naruto turned it so Sasuke could get a better look. "Just a case for some CDs. A lot of them are from when I was younger, though…"

A fine dark brow quirked as he sat down beside Naruto on the bed. "And what does that mean?"

"It means… half of these are really gay," Naruto grumbled. "Dah! I found a good one! See, teme, I think you'll like this cuz, ya know, you're all—what's with the glare?"

"What glare?" the raven asked in near monotony.

Naruto threw up his hands. "What is your problem? Do you see normal people walking around, glaring fit to kill and talking in that- that totally un-cool way of yours with no emotion? No, of course not!" He grumbled to himself for a few seconds before peering over at Sasuke. "Are you…" His eyes narrowed slightly as he inspected his companion. "Do you have bastard-idos?"

Sasuke really wasn't sure what to make of that one. "Beg pardon?"

Naruto just rolled his eyes and slid to his feet, shaking his head. He opened his small boom-box that was sitting on the floor at the head of bed and placed the CD inside. "No matter, I suppose," he finally said as he fiddled with the buttons. After a second, he stepped back and put his hands on his hips, looking almost proud of himself.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the little box as he awaited his doom. There was a small pause as the gears shifted and went to work within the small contraption before something clicked and—

"Mother of—turn that down!" Sasuke immediately covered his ears.

Naruto jumped out of his skin and also covered his ears as the music blared out of the small device. He dared not put his face too close to it in case the noise would give him hearing loss. So instead, he pushed in a random button with his toe.

The boom box continued to belt as loud as it could from its electrical lungs.

Sasuke wondered how thick Naruto's windows were and if they were going to shatter anytime soon.

Naruto continually jabbed at the stupid thing with his toe.

The volume somehow got turned up even louder.

Sasuke started to grow dizzy.

Naruto kicked the CD player for all he was worth, no longer caring if he broke it or anything of the sort.

The boom box seemed to grow indignant at that and continued to blare at them, almost taungtingly.

Something started cracking in the wall that was Sasuke's patience.

Naruto decided it was fine to have irreplaceable ear damage once he glanced over and saw Sasuke fuming, looking much like a rabid dog about to snap.

The boom box didn't give a dang-diddaly-dang whose ears it shredded and continued to belt out music. It was, in fact, so loud at this point that it was impossible to make out any of the words to the song and the instruments all blended into one, blood-curdling shriek.

Sasuke swore the cursed thing out with as many obscenities as he knew, even going as far as to make up some of his own.

Naruto was on his hands and knees by this point, squinting at the small thing. The music was doing nothing to help his concentration and he couldn't focus on what the wording above the buttons said long enough to actually read it.

And suddenly—

Everything stopped.

Even the electricity.

Naruto blinked in confusion as the music abruptly stopped mid-screech. His eyes flicked around the room in confusion as everything went black.

"What the hell? I can't see a thing!"

Sasuke seemed completely unperturbed by the fact that it was hard to see anything. "It's not impossible to see. There's a window right over there and the moon is shining in."

"Liar!" Naruto accused, throwing his hands up. "I can't see anything! What do you mean it's not impossible? Lies; lies, I tell you!"

"Just get a flash—"

"It's really dark in here and the sun isn't even up anymore!" Naruto blabbered out, trying not to panic.

"If you would listen for a sec—"

"I mean, cuz… it's almost nine or something!"

"Calm down, dobe, and just—"

"Do you think we can bribe the sun into rising again?"

"Just listen to me for a second and we can—bribe the sun into rising again?" he echoed after Naruto's words sank in. "How the hell would we…?"

"Alright, teme," Naruto breathed, trying to calm himself down. "Let's think about this rationally."

Sasuke made a face the absurdity of his straying thoughts. "How the hell would you bribe the sun…?" he mused aloud.

"Temeeeeee," Naruto whined. "Now is not the time to acting like an idiot. I thought you were more mature than that!"

Sasuke decided not to answer, and instead settled for shooting Naruto a flat look.

"What are we going to do, Sasuke-teme? What? What; what; what; what; what?" Naruto put two fingers to his forehead as he chanted, hoping against hope that some magical idea would pop into his head.

"Do you have a flashlight?" Sasuke asked blandly.

"Teme!" Naruto snapped. "I told you this wasn't the time for your stupid—flashlight?" He blinked at the thought before brightening. "Flashlights! Oh, of course! Why didn't I think of that?"

"Oh, I wonder," Sasuke dryly commented before deciding to save the mocking for later. "Where do you keep the flashlights?"

"Uhhh…"

"…You don't know, do you?"

"Of course I know where they are!"

"Mm-hmm," Sasuke hummed. "I'm sure."

"I do!" Naruto huffed indignantly. After briefly thinking about it, he continued, "I mean, I might… I did at one point…"

"What point in your life did you know where they were?"

Naruto nodded reassuringly to himself. "We used to have a bookcase and the flashlights were always on the top shelf next to the older paperbacks."

"And where is this bookcase?" For some reason, Sasuke had a feeling that this was going too smoothly.

"Um…" The blond screwed his face up as he thought about it. "I think we threw it away about four years ago."

If Sasuke were to give off any dialogue, the only thing it could possible be was: "…"

"What?" Naruto defended. "So it might've been five."

"That's the last time that you remember seeing a flashlight?" Sasuke struggled to keep his voice from trembling in frustration at the idiocy of his companion.

"Well… yeah," Naruto admitted. He had the modesty to sound at least sound slightly sheepish. "After that, I had my Kyuu."

Sasuke's right eye squinted slightly in a restrained twitch. "Come again?"

"Kyuu, my fox-shaped nightlight," Naruto clarified.

And once again, the only thing that Sasuke managed to say was: "…"

"What?" Naruto blinked, unsure as to what had shocked the Uchiha into silence.

Sasuke just shook his head. "Never mind, I do not want to know."

"So… then… um… what now?"

"Now we're going to have to look around for those flashlights."

Naruto's expression told Sasuke exactly what he thought of that. "But I don't have a clue where they are," he whined.

"That doesn't matter," Sasuke reprimanded. "Besides, if we think about it logically, we can figure it out." He paused—Naruto took that as an opportunity to whine—and briefly thought it out. "You said you just moved, right?" he slowly asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Moved in about five days ago."

"Did you unpack everything?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah. Just things like dishes and the furniture. I don't even have my manga," he replied, tone mournful at the mention of his absent comics.

"And where are the boxes that aren't unpacked?"

"Downstairs in the basement."

Naruto heard something shuffle and squinted into the darkness, hoping to evolve into some higher species and suddenly be able to see. "Where are you?"

"Right here."

Naruto yelped and whirled around, hand held over his heart. "Don't do that!" He let out a shaky breath as his heart rate slowed and frowned. "Um… how will I know where you are? If you turn and I don't, we'll be lost…"

"We're going to the same place," Sasuke pointed out, idly holding up his hand and examining his nails in boredom despite the fact that he couldn't even see said fingernails. "I doubt we'll lose sight of each other."

"But… but it's dark and one of us could fall and break a leg or something!"

"Dobe," Sasuke interrupted, "I am not holding your hand, if that's what you're getting at."

There was a silence on Naruto's behalf for a long while before: "I… didn't want to hold your hand. That's… that's… well, stupid."

It was quite obvious from his tone that thirty seconds ago, the idea hadn't sounded so stupid to him.

Naruto jerked forward when something grabbed onto his hand and yanked. "Eh?" Blindly, he wriggled his fingers around to figure out what had happened.

"Alright, continue molesting my hand and I'll leave you up here alone."

Naruto blinked in surprise as he figured out that there was another hand in his grasp. "You…" He squeezed the hand before continuing, "You're holding my hand!"

"I am not afraid to let go of it, either."

Naruto took the hint and shut his yap.

---

"Ow—!"

"You're on my foot!"

"Ow—!"

"That. Is. My foot."

"OW!"

"This isn't working!"

Naruto threw his hands up. "OW, I said! I said it over and over again! Move that thing now!"

Sasuke raked a hand through his hair as he struggled to remember just why he put himself in such a predicament in the first time. "Alright. Just move that box—"

SLAM.

"—slowly…" Sasuke drifted off as something shuffled. "What was that?"

"I found something!" Naruto cried victoriously.

"Wonderful," Sasuke quipped. "But the nightstand is still sitting on my foot and my hands are still full of your junk."

"It's not junk!" Naruto immediately defended. "It's a gift from the gods! Manga is something that should not be questioned or insulted. Ever. Remember that, would you, teme?"

"Just remove the stand from atop of my foot, would ya?"

"Sure; sure." Naruto lifted a leg and kicked said stand over.

CRASH.

Sasuke's toes tingled as blood returned to the digits. "Good job, dobe. You didn't completely break it to bits."

"Eh. No one uses it anyway."

Sasuke put his load of boxes down, gift-from-the-gods-manga and all. "Anyway. We better search for those flashlights."

"Right." Naruto popped open a random box and shoved a hand into the contents, roughly pushing things around as his fingers sought out the light-giving appliances. His tongue slipped out of his mouth as he rigorously searched. His movements slowly halted, though, and he blinked. "Uh… teme?"

"What is it now?"

Naruto's mouth opened and closed slowly, making him much resemble a guppy fish. Finally, he managed, "There's… uh… something in here."

Sasuke didn't even glance up from the box he was sifting through. "Really now? Is it a flashlight?"

"Uh… no, but…"

"Then I don't care.

"…It's alive," Naruto finished.

This time Sasuke did let his eyes flicker up to glare into the darkness. "What?"

There was shuffling as Naruto probed at it. "Dude, it's furry!"

Sasuke frowned. "Dobe, I wouldn't—"

"But it's kinda small…"

"Dobe Stop pestering—"

"Dude! It moves and it has a tail…" Naruto drifted off and made a face.

"Dobe." Sasuke's voice was demanding. "Stop it and leave it—"

He was cut off by an exclamation from Naruto once again. "It has sharp teeth! Uh… really, really sharp."

"Stop putting your fingers in its mouth and leave it alone before it—"

Naruto yelped and fell flat on his bottom. His legs shot up from beneath him and slammed into the box that he had been looking through barely a second before. The box tipped and all of its contents spilled out with an assortment of clunks, rattles, and thumps.

"Bit me!" The blond's voice was full of disbelief. "That damn thing bit me! I think I'm actually bleeding…"

Sasuke found himself rushing over to grope at the darkness for Naruto's hand and inspecting it, though he wasn't exactly sure when he started to care about whether or not the dobe got hurt. After all, he had provoked the poor animal and if Sasuke had been in its place, he would have also sunk his teeth into Naruto's hand. Who appreciated being poked and prodded?

He ran his thumb over Naruto's index finger and was slightly perturbed when he felt something warm and thick.

"You are bleeding," he muttered more to himself than anyone else.

Naruto irritably retorted, "What of—?" He stopped to yelp when he felt his finger being engulfed in something warm and wet. Naruto stopped breathing and his eyes widened dramatically when he felt something just as warm with the texture of fading sandpaper glide down to wear that thing had bit him. "S… S… Sasuke?" he called in a slightly shaky voice. "What are you…? My finger is, uh… in- in your mouth. You, uh… you know that, right?"

He felt Sasuke's head dip in a nod.

"Ah… o- okay. Uh… but, uh, won't that… you know, just infect it?" Naruto wriggled nervously, unsure as to whether he was supposed to rip his hand out of Sasuke's grip or allow the dark haired man to… would 'nurse the wound' be the right phrase in such a predicament?

Naruto decided that it didn't really matter and shoved the thought aside. Instead, he opted to try and make out Sasuke's dark figure in the dim lighting and attempt to watch him and maybe figure out what he was doing.

Sasuke wasn't quite sure what he was doing, though. He wasn't one of those weirdoes who adored the taste of blood. Quite the opposite, in fact. He had always hated everything about blood. He also wasn't one to go sticking things in his mouth, either. What he was doing was going against his moral code. As well as that…

Something had bit Naruto. Some small creature had sunk its teeth into Naruto's skin—he fought off the small bout of fiery hot prickles that danced in the back of his mind at the thought—and now that same area of skin was in his mouth. Random animal germs and all.

So, something had just bit Naruto… and now Sasuke was basically saying, "Ooo, lemme have a taste!" (Either that Naruto was taking it as a "I vant to suck yah blood!" type of thing involving those stereotypical vampires in those stupid old movie clichés.)

Charming.

Really, it was.

He stifled the urge to gag and slowly pulled Naruto's hand away from his mouth. His immediate wish was to spit out every ounce of saliva in his mouth and then scrub every nook and cranny with a toothbrush. Maybe even gurgle some sort of antibacterial gel. Right then, he didn't give three hoots that doing so had a likelihood of possibly killing him. He swallowed—nearly gagging on the saliva—and turned his attention back to Naruto.

Naruto hadn't moved. His injured hand was still suspended in the air and he was staring at Sasuke with wide eyes, unsure as to what to do.

"What bit you?"

Naruto cleared his throat. "I, uh, think it was a rat."

He was very confused when Sasuke made some sort of choking noise.

"Oi, teme, are you—?"

"Let's keep searching for the flashlights. They have to be around here somewhere," Sasuke interrupted him. He sounded like he was choking as he spoke.

"Um… okay then. I'll go through this box and you go through that one there," Naruto instructed. Sasuke nodded in agreement, even though Naruto wouldn't be able to see that he did so, and they resumed their—

"Kyaa!"

SLAM.

—search…

Sasuke looked over and squinted when he saw something flying through the air in his general direction. It landed with a heavy thump and rolled a few feet across the concrete before coming to a stop. Sasuke opened his mouth to ask what had happened but was cut off before he even started by a few colorful curses.

"Purple-llama-of-a-triangular-chimpanzee-for-Christ's-sake-that-hurt­-dammit-to-hell-with-a-seamonkey-in-pigtails-shit-with-pirates-and-chips-and-dip-screw-it-all-sideways-with-a-fork-what-in-the-seven-layers-of-hell-acorns-upside-down-in-your-ass-I-goan-kill-the-sun'a'bitch-that-there-where-did-I-just-throw-that-thing-it's-goin'-down!" (3)

The dialogue was all one sentence and thus held no punctuation. Naruto had thrown out that stream of… curses so fast that Sasuke hadn't been able to make much sense of it, but he got the basic gist:

Naruto fell on something.

It had hurt like a "sun'a'bitch."

Naruto was currently in a rawr-I-eat-the-blood-of-puppies-for-dinner! mood.

All that added up was the cause of Naruto's colorful mouth, Sasuke supposed…

"What did you trip on?"

"I dunno," Naruto stiffly replied. "I threw it."

"Is that was that was?" Sasuke turned to look in the general direction of where he remembered hearing something land not but a minute ago.

"Wait!" Naruto cried, arching his back slightly as he reached behind himself. "There's another one!" He grabbed a hold of the cylindrical item and raised his arm to chuck the damn thing as far as he could. However, the moment it left his fingers and went sailing through the air, he realized that it was rocketing towards Sasuke. Only one thought seemed to sum up the situation at that point: Aw, shit.

"Sasuke!" he called, hoping that by some divine intervention, the raven would somehow see the small, heavy item that was heading right for him and duck, dodge or what have you.

"Wha—?" Sasuke was cut off as said item connected dead on with his chest and collar bone, bouncing off of him like a ball bounces against a wall with a meaty thump. It clattered to the floor noisily where it made a grand exit by rolling off into the distance.

"Eek! Sasuke!" Naruto hands flew up to keep him from crashing into anything and he speedily closed the distance between them. "Are you—?" Something connected with the back of his head. "Ow! Bastard, what was that for?" he demanded, rubbing the area that Sasuke had attacked.

"Did you have to throw the damn thing?" the dark haired man waspishly demanded, idly rubbing at his chest.

"Eh? Does it hurt that bad? Lemme take a look—"

"Dobe, stop moving—"

"Well, move your hand, bastard! I can't inspect the damage if—"

"Let me get my balance first, at least, would ya?" Sasuke snapped, not at all appreciating the fact that he just admitted that he currently wasn't steady on his feet. "I'm going to—"

Turned out that Naruto wasn't willing to back off for even a second and was attacking the base of Sasuke's neck as he tried to pry Sasuke's hands off. As such, Sasuke wasn't given the time to correct his equilibrium. Thus, both the raven and the blond went crashing to the ground, the blond sprawled across a slightly miffed raven.

Naruto groaned and erected himself so that instead of laying flat-out on Sasuke he was kneeling—with one knee between Sasuke's legs, but who was paying attention to such small details?—with his hands on either side of Sasuke's head, acting as a support.

"Sorry," he grumbled as he prepared to stand up. However, Sasuke—who had responded to the apology with a strained "hn"—had apparently decided he was also going to get up at the same time. Thus, his leg brushed up against Naruto's inner thigh.

Both boys froze. Every muscle in Sasuke tense and Naruto held his breath. Their eyes locked in the dim lighting and Naruto's heart sped up. The pulse in his neck also sped up, forming a lump in his throat. He could feel small sparks of something hot and almost animalistic creeping down his spine and before he could stop to think the predicament through, he had leaned down towards Sasuke's face. His left hand absently traveled over to where Sasuke had been smacked by the thing that Naruto had thrown and gingerly rubbed the skin there.

Even through his shirt, Sasuke could clearly feel Naruto's fingers and a warmth that wasn't necessarily unpleasant flooded his chest and raced around like a dog that had just remembered it had a tail.

Sasuke fidgeted, his breathing pattern going slightly erratic as confusion enveloped him. The motion, however, caused Naruto's motions to come to a screeching halt. Dark, murky eyes narrowed. "Dobe, what do you think you're doing?" he demanded, tone a little more harsh than he originally intended it to be.

"Che, bastard." Sasuke didn't miss the tremble in Naruto's words. But he was tremendously relieved—and something in the back of his mind pouted and shook its fist at such awful luck; Sasuke hunted said thing down at blew it up with a bazooka—when Naruto leaned back to sit on his haunches. The blond cleared his throat. "So… um… what exactly did I throw at you?"

Sasuke snorted and sat up, making sure to pull his legs away from Naruto so that they were close to his body. "I don't know. But whatever it was, it was heavy, that's for sure."

Naruto winced. "Uh, yeah, about that, sorry for throwing it at you. I swear I didn't mean for it—"

"It's fine," Sasuke said, successfully stopping another apology.

"Well then… do you want to find that thing and figure out what it was?" Naruto offered.

"Not especially."

Naruto didn't bother listening to Sasuke, though, and turned to his left and squinted as hard as he could into the darkness, the hope that he had evolved the ability to evolve into some higher species coming back to him once again. He slowly crawled over with his hands exploring the ground thoroughly. It was a 'fun' adventure full of small mishaps such as these:

"Oh! I found it!"

"You found my leg," Sasuke snapped, snatching said appendage away.

And:

"I found it for real this time!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

"…That is my other leg."

"…Oh…"

Eventually, however, Naruto finally found it—"for really real this time!"—and gave a triumphant cry as he latched onto it.

"And I found the other one," Sasuke answered, picking up the abused item that had been previously chucked across the room.

Naruto grinned victoriously as he fingered his prize. "I wonder what the hell it…" He drifted off, blinked, and frowned. He rolled the rubber, cylindrical item around in his hands before his fingers found a button. He pushed it experimentally. It gave a loud cuh-click before the gears shifted and—

"It's a flashlight!" Naruto cried loudly, whirling to face Sasuke who winced as the bright light ravaged his corneas. Naruto remained oblivious to Sasuke's pain and said, "I threw a flashlight at you, teme! Can you believe our luck?"

Sasuke blinked painfully and looked down at his hands. "I have one, too." He paused before shaking his head. "Only you would be idiot enough to trip over the flashlights." He pushed the switch up and it turned on, illuminating the room even more.

Naruto glared at Sasuke before deciding to allow the comment to slide. "Alright!" he chirped. "We have the flashlights! So… now what?"

"Well, where's your fuse box?"

Naruto blinked. "My what?"

"Tell me you know what a fuse box is." At Naruto's blank look, Sasuke gave an exasperated sigh and decided to explain. "It's a box that has switches and fuses that controls and checks the electricity coming into the house. Your stupid CD player probably just broke a fuse, so all we have to do is flip some switches and the power should come back on."

"Teme!" Naruto huffed. "I knew that!"

"Okay, sure you did. Now just show me where your box is."

Naruto stood up with a scoff. "Cocky bastard. C'mon. I… I think it's down here somewhere…"

"It'd probably be by the steps." Sasuke also stood and crept over to the flight of wooden stairs. After examining the wall, he motioned for Naruto to come over. "Hold the flashlight up so I can read this," he instructed.

His eyes scanned over the assortment of switches and labels. "Hn. Guess I'll just restart them all," he grumbled. He then flipped over the first switch before pushing it back into its original position. Sasuke repeated the process multiple times before he finally stepped back. "There. I'm done."

"But the light isn't on!" Naruto wailed, flailing his arms.

"We didn't bother to turn on the light when we came down," Sasuke very, very patiently pointed out. "It's not going to magically turn back on."

Azure eyes narrowed slightly. "Shaddup. I'm going to go check if the lights work." Naruto whirled and raced up the stairs. There was three seconds of blissful silence before the room blared to life with light and Sasuke dropped his flashlight to cover his eyes. After a few seconds, however, he remembered that he was an Uchiha and thus he didn't do such unbecoming things and let his arms fall to his side. Immediately, his eyes squinted shut to allow as little light in as possible.

"IT WORKS!" Naruto roared from upstairs.

Sasuke replied with a groan.

---

There was a long, drawn-out sigh from Sasuke as he sat down on the couch in Naruto's family room. "Alright, dobe. After a four hour battle, we have the power back on."

Naruto blinked. "Four hours?" He glanced over at the clock that was resting nearby and blinked again. "Oh. It has been four hours… Uh, wow."

"And your parents aren't back yet?"

"Hunh?" Naruto looked over at Sasuke, slightly confused.

"It's late, dobe," Sasuke informed him dryly. "Very late. It's past midnight. I should be home in bed at this time, in fact. But your parents are still absent. Care to elaborate?"

"Oh! So you're right. Hunh." Naruto crossed his arms and flopped down on the loveseat adjacent to the couch that Sasuke sat on. "Where are they…?" His brow crinkled in thought.

"You don't know? They're your parents… and you don't know where they are?"

Naruto pouted. "Give me a break here! I ha—" He stopped himself just in time from saying what he originally wanted to tell Sasuke: I hate my parents. "I haven't had a chance to talk with them since we moved," he said instead.

"Did they hint at going anywhere?" Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto wrinkled his nose as he fought to recall the miniscule conversations he had with Mizuki over the last few days—

"Aw, shit."

Sasuke's dark eyes flicked over to Naruto, silently asking for him to elaborate.

"My, uh… okaasan is kinda having some sort of operation right now. So she'll probably stay at the hospital for the night. I'm not sure about Miz—my otousan." Wow, getting back into the habit of calling them mother and father was going to take some practice.

"And you just now remember this?"

Naruto scowled. "Feel fortunate that I remember this at all."

Sasuke decided that the subject of family was officially taboo. "Anyway, it really is getting late. I'll be going. What?" Sasuke asked when Naruto gave him a look fit to kill cats.

"You're a bastard, you know that? I have homework I need to do and because of you I wasted four hours running around wasting time. Now it's late as hell and I still have homework to do. And the homework fairy seems to have forgotten that Uzumaki Naruto exists lately," he groused.

"Where is your homework? I'll help you with it," Sasuke offered.

Naruto's eyes narrowed in skepticism. "How do I know that you won't feed me incorrect answers on purpose?"

"Do you think that highly of me?"

Naruto's look was answer enough.

Sasuke resisted the urge to rub his temples and sigh. "This would be a good bonding experience, dobe. You're supposed to agree and then we go frolicking up to your room giggling like school girls."

Naruto didn't reply, but instead crossed his arms huffily.

"You don't want to bond?"

Brilliant blue eyes narrowed. "I want you to die."

"Hn. Point taken."

Naruto's glare faded and instead, he crossed his arms and pouted again. "If I get shit from my teachers, I'm gonna kick your ass."

"You couldn't lay a finger on my even if you tried."

"Oi!" His appearance became vicious again. "I can fight, you know." I, uh, just don't like to, he mentally added.

"Che. For some reason, I doubt that."

Naruto was about to retort but was instantly distracted when he heard the front door creak. He tensed and jumped to his feet automatically.

"Oi!" a very peeved Mizuki yelled. "Where the hell are you, damn brat? We have something we need to talk about."

Naruto swallowed and his eyes shifted over to Sasuke. It was hard to read what Sasuke was thinking. Really hard. Sasuke's eyes had narrowed and he was staring at the door frame intently, like it would give him the answer to world hunger and would end the war and bring the troops home.

He bit his lip and took a hesitant stop towards the door frame. "I'm in here," he replied. He never would've given Mizuki two cents if Sasuke hadn't been there, truthfully. But he didn't want this turning into a scene—he really, really didn't—and if Mizuki saw Sasuke, he would calm down long enough for the raven to leave.

"I have a fuckin' bone to pick with you"—Naruto mentally cringed at the profanity; even though Mizuki was foul-tempered, serious swearing was one thing that he rarely did—"you damn brat. Perhaps you can explain…" Mizuki drifted off as he stepped into the living room, his eyes automatically darting over to Sasuke—and narrowing slightly, but who paid attention to such small details?

Sasuke's jaw set as he gave a small bow of courtesy. "Forgive my intrusion, sir."

"Not at all," Mizuki replied stiffly before looking over at Naruto and grinning. Naruto's eyebrows shot up and he blinked several times at the gesture. "Why didn't you tell me you had a friend over… and so late at night. One might start to think things, you know," Mizuki joked lightly.

Naruto was starting to wonder if Mizuki had maybe had some drugs slipped into his water at the hospital and was now currently lost in Wonderland.

"Yes, I apologize for that. I never intended to stay so long. I'll be leaving, then." With that Sasuke looked over at Naruto and nodded in farewell before heading towards the door. The moment that it clicked shut behind him, Naruto's gaze flicked back to Mizuki.

Mizuki was looking in the direction of the couch where Sasuke had been sitting. "Who was that?" he demanded, tone dripping with distaste.

Naruto stiffened and he glared. "A friend."

Mizuki sneered. "I bet he is. What was he doin' over here so late, huh? I never would've pegged you for a queer, but I suppose it suits you well."

Naruto's spine went rigid and his shoulders tense, making him stand up straighter. "What was that?" His eyes narrowed at his foster father.

"He looked like the type of guy who would hang out with an idiot like you," Mizuki continued. His nose wrinkled in disgust. "What? Is he some sort of delinquent?"

Naruto bristled. "Sasuke isn't a delinquent," he snarled. "And I am not gay."

Mizuki's face lifted in a snarl that was much too animalistic for comfort as he remembered his original reason for talking to the brat. "I'm sure that this will come as no surprise to you, but as I was in the recovery room the evening, I received a phone call. Wanna guess who it was?"

The blond mentally cringed and then darted to hide behind a huge rock. This was a conversation that was not going to end well.

"It was your school that called me, telling me that not only did you ditch your classes, but you also basically told the teachers to piss off when they tried to stop you."

Naruto decided that saying nothing was the best thing at this point so he dug his teeth into his lip to keep from hotly retorting about what he really thought of those teachers.

"You know what that means." Mizuki yanked his wallet out of his pocket and flipped it open before ripping out a small white rectangle. "The deal is off. I'm burning the damn picture," he snarled.

Naruto jerked. "Wha—no! You bastard, that's my picture!"

Mizuki's eyes smoldered and his hand clenched around the picture of Naruto's parents, crumpling it. "What did you just call me?"

"You heard me!" Naruto was inwardly bashing himself over the head for digging such a grave. This was definitely not going to end well at all.

And without any warning, Mizuki took the picture between his both of his thumbs and forefingers. And then Naruto heard a short, crisp rip and the picture was in two. Naruto stared—morbidly fascinated and unable to move—as Mizuki lined up the two halves and jerked his hands again, causing it to divide into four pieces.

Then eight.

Sixteen.

Thirty-two.

The pieces grew in number and smaller in size with each passing second and all Naruto could do was watch, slack-jawed and wide-eyed like a deer caught in headlights, as the only proof of his parents was utterly destroyed.

Destroyed. Beyond repair. Never to be seen again. Gone with the wind. Vamoose.

Mizuki finally decided that the pieces were too difficult to shred any farther and as such, opened his hands and allowed the scraps to flutter to the floor.

Naruto's blank eyes traveled down with the remains of the picture. The tiny, fluttering squares looked almost like late autumn leaves that had been kicked up and left at the mercy of the wind…

When the last small scrap hit the floor, a fiery hot flame burned the back of his throat and quickly spread down his chest and pooled in his stomach. His hands balled into tight fists and trembled ever so slightly. An electrical jolt of emotion struck the back of his mind, leaving it white-hot.

Naruto's patience with his ever-loving guardian snapped. And his temper was straining at its leash, begging to be released, even if for a second.

And were there any reasons why Naruto should restrain his fury? Any reasons why Naruto should keep himself from turning Mizuki into a live punching bag? Any reason for not strangling him and beating him and shattering his skull and slamming his head against a wall a few times and making him bleed and—

Because I'm not the monster he says I am, Naruto answered himself. Even though I would really like to hurt him—

Mizuki smirked, his lips moving upward at the speed that molasses spread across a slice of bread. And when he spoke, even his words were like molasses—slow and thick. "I hope you're as miserable as I feel. Really, I do. I'm not even sure why you're still under my roof. You're a delinquent, a problematic child, an idiot, a pain to deal with, and now you're even a queer."

Queer. That was the word that made him react. "Shut up, bastard," Naruto hissed. He had the childish impulse to jam his fingers in his ears and go: "La, la, la, la, la, la—I can't hear you!—la, la, la, la, la, la." Instead, he gritted his teeth and continued, "I don't know why you hate me; really, I don't. I also don't know why you bother with me if I'm that much trouble. If you hate me so much then leave. Me. The fuck. Alone."

Everything happened at break-neck speed after that. Mizuki flicked the catch of his belt and with a violent yank, whipped it out of the loops of his pants. His face contorted and his eyes were tiny slits. "Don't you dare use such language with me!"

The belt came down, roughly aimed for his face and neck, but instead of allowing the polished leather to make contact with his skin, Naruto's arm flew up. He felt the bite of the belt on his wrist. He knew it was going to welt almost immediately and was glad that he had blocked the attack. That hit probably could've taken off some skin if it had landed on the original intended mark.

Mizuki growled and ripped his arm back, brandishing his weapon as he prepared another strike. This time he went for Naruto's shoulder.

Impulsively, Naruto latched a hold of the belt and it bit into the underside of his wrist.

"Stop."

Both Mizuki and Naruto looked surprised at the command and it took several seconds for Naruto to realize that it had come from his own mouth. His eyes traveled up to Mizuki's and he nearly recoiled at the insane anger he saw there.

But apparently his demand had poked the stable half of his mind into consciousness because Mizuki took a step back. And even though that burning fury was still etched into his features, Mizuki's eyes had calmed down slightly.

Naruto fell backwards onto the loveseat with an undignified fump when Mizuki shoved the belt at him. The blond half expected the older man to hit him again, only this time with his fists. But instead, Mizuki said in a low, rumbling voice: "I will find a way to get rid of you. I can promise you that."

Then he whirled and stormed out of the room, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Naruto looked down at the dark brown belt that he still held and wondered what he was supposed to make of that.

---

For some reason, homeroom seemed to be the worst time of day. This was unsurprising. Naruto had always hated homeroom for some reason.

But Naruto found himself really, really wanting to punch his homeroom teacher in the face. It wasn't often that a teacher pissed him off that much.

The man was just pure evil.

The moment he had stepped into the room that morning, his homeroom teacher—Naruto still didn't know his name and he found that he no longer cared—had a hissy fit and a half, exclaiming about how Naruto had ditched detention the day before. And then proceeded to lecture him on the benefits of keeping appointments. And then proceeded to caution—threaten—Naruto that if he missed three detentions, he would be severely punished. And then proceeded to give Naruto a week's worth of detention as punishment. And then proceeded to warn—threaten—him that if he missed even one of the appointed detentions, it would turn into a month's worth,

So needless to say, the aura that Naruto gave off during math class was dark and sinister enough to threaten that of Gaara when he was in a dark mood, and that was quite the feat indeed.

"Uh… dude?" Kiba cautiously asked, poking Naruto's shoulder. He had finished spazzing out about Naruto having welts on his wrists—"See? I knew someone tried to kidnap you!"—and had finally taken notice of the ominous cloud, complete with the occasional rumble of thunder, that hovered over the blond.

Naruto hissed, much resembling a snake, and slowly turned his head to glare ferociously at the Dog Boy.

"So, what bit you in the ass?"

In reply, Naruto hissed again, turning his head forward back to its original position.

Kiba frowned. "Seriously, Naruto, what's wrong?"

"Detention," Naruto grudgingly replied.

Kiba laughed at him.

And Naruto was not to be held responsible for the bruise that formed on Kiba's shin—a bruise that undoubtedly came from a powerful kick.

"So, what did my loser do to earn such a wonderful reward?" Kiba grinned, idly rubbing at his abused leg.

"Go burn in hell." Naruto squinted at the board and frowned when he saw the homework. "And take the math texts with you."

"Sorry, no can do. Last I heard, those evil books of doom won't burn."

Naruto had no problem in announcing his thoughts on what he thought of that with a loud profanity.

"So, anyway. How did your excursion go yesterday after our phone call?"

"Eh. I ran into Sasuke-teme." Naruto had to grin at the dark scowl that Kiba made before continuing, "And he walked me home and stayed for a while."

"Are you sure you're the real Naruto? The Naruto I know would not be hanging out with bastards like the Uchiha."

"He's not… that bad. We talked. I found out some stuff about him. It was actually pretty cool."

"Cool?"

Naruto frowned. "Yeah. It was cool. I like hanging out with him. I just don't know anything about him." A thought struck Naruto and he snapped his fingers before pointing at Kiba. "Oh! Right! I keep forgetting to ask. What do you know about him?"

"Who?"

"Who do you think?"

"…Mm?"

"Sasuke," Naruto drawled.

"Oh. Him. Right. I actually don't know anything."

Naruto deflated. "I should've guessed."

"But I do know where you can get info on him."

"Eh? What, like buy it from someone?"

Kiba considered that. "Nah, I don't think they'd sell it… At least, not for money."

And all Naruto could do was blink, completely lost. "What are we talking about here?"

A feral grin spread across the brunet's lips. "Did you know that Sasuke's local fan club consists of over eight-hundred members, both male and female, and is the largest club at this school, despite being underground?"

---

And that was why green eyes were sparkling with mirth at him as he tried not to break out into a nervous sweat.

"So you want information on Sasuke-kun?"

The girl leaned forward as she asked it, her short, pink, choppy locks of hair slipping over her shoulders.

"…Yeah?"

She grinned again and leaned even farther towards him. Naruto almost felt like what she was about to tell him was some sort of wild secret that was not to be taken lightly. He found himself leaning forward slightly, as well. Why, he wasn't sure. Heat of the moment and his nervousness mixed together, he supposed.

"What's it worth?"

Naruto blinked. "What?"

The girl crossed her arms. "What's it worth to you?"

When Naruto continued to stare at her dumbly, she gave an impatient huff and leaned back to sit up straight. "What are you willing to give me in exchange for some info?"

"…I think I have five hundred yen…?"

The girl huffed again. "I don't want your money. I don't need it. I have plenty of that. What I mean is, can you tell me anything in return?"

"You mean, like… things that you don't know?"

The pink-haired girl grinned. "Exactly!"

Well, why the hell was he bothering to ask for information in the first place? He didn't know anything about the raven—aside from the fact that his family was dead and that he had a brother. But those were trivial and easy-to-access facts that this girl most likely already knew. He racked his brain for anything and immediately blurted, "He doesn't like music."

The girl remained unmoved for a second before one of her perfect eyebrows rose. "He doesn't?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nope. Told me so himself."

"Hunh… no music?" she mused aloud before shaking herself. "That is a very interesting piece of information… it shall come in handy one day." A far-away, starry look popped into her eyes and she clenched her fist, smiling gaily.

"What could come in handy?" a new voice interrupted.

The girl jerked out of whatever world she had been in and looked over at the new person. "Ino. What are you doing here?"

Another girl with long blonde hair tied back in a high ponytail crossed her arms. "I'm the vice president of SUFA, so I don't want to hear it from you, Sakura. I also need to know everything possible about Sasuke-kun just like you," she tartly explained.

"…SUFA?" Naruto repeated.

The blonde girl grinned at him. "It stands for Sasuke Uchiha Fan Association. I am Yamanaka Ino, vice president of said club and billboard brow here is Haruno Sakura. We're pleased to be at your servicel"

Naruto slid back in his seat when Sakura gave Ino a murderous look at the words billboard brow.

"Anyway, how can we help a cutey like you?" Ino cheerfully inquired, smiling brilliantly.

"I'd like to learn a little more about Sasuke—"

"Done," Ino chirped. "We're always happy to spread the Sasuke-kun love. But it comes at a price—"

"He doesn't like music," Naruto automatically interrupted.

Ino's mouth slowly closed and she blinked. "Excuse me?"

Sakura gave a pained sigh. "I know, isn't it horrible? All this time we've been trying to get him into a romantic mood by playing love songs…" She drifted off and sighed again.

"Wow… Sasuke-kun doesn't like music…" the blonde repeated, still in awe. "I thought it was impossible for someone to hate…"

"Eh, girls?" Naruto glanced over his shoulder to see the table that Gaara, Sino, and Kiba sat at. He could see Kiba glaring at him, most likely trying to make him hurry up. "Lunch is going to be over soon."

"Oh. Oh, right!" Ino's grin came back out. "What do you want to know?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know… I mean…" He had to admit that he felt a lttle dirty. He felt like he was sneaking around behind Sasuke's back, doing something like this. But he also really, really wanted to know… "What do you know about his past?"

Ino's smile faltered for a second.

"Well, first off, what do you know about Sasuke-kun's past?" It was Sakura who had asked and Naruto redirected his gaze so he was looking at her.

"Well… let's see… I know that he had a brother and that his family is dead. That's about it."

Ino looked away and when she spoke, her smile was gone and her voice was so low that it was almost inaudible. Naruto had to lean forward slightly to hear. "Sasuke-kun… Sasuke-kun's had a rough life. Do you know anything about his brother?"

"No, I don't. Why?"

Ino took a deep breath. "Uchiha Itachi is also a very handsome man. All of the Uchihas are—were—very good-looking. Itachi was no different. But… there just wasn't something there with Itachi."

Naruto licked his lips nervously. "You mean, like, he was mentally disturbed?"

He jerked when Sakura gave a hollow laugh. "That's putting it mildly," she mumbled.

"What are you talking about?"

Ino laced her fingers together. "Sasuke-kun doesn't have a family to this day because of Itachi."

Naruto tensed as he realized where she was going.

"In fact, Sasuke and Itachi are the only two surviving from the Uchiha family. And Itachi's the one to blame."

"You mean… that—?"

Ino nodded. "Itachi killed everyone in his family except Sasuke."

---

(1) Wazoo isn't technically a word, but since I use it on occasion, I decided to put it in there despite the fact that a very red and very angry squiggly line is trying to tell me that what I actually meant to write was wahoo. Y'all know what I mean, though, when I say 'wazoo,' don't you? As in another word for dairy-air? XD

(2) A stupid question to ask? Yes, indeed, it is. But it's the first question that I blurt when I meet someone new. –nice guy pose-

(3) Heh. Those are all curses that I use every day. Some are copyrighted by me. Others are copyrighted by my friends. I have a bit of a… uh, colorful mouth when I get upset. Just like Naruto in this Fic. –sweatdrops and hides face-

--

I know that the whole Gaara thing was rushed (and a bit of a disappointment), but after staring at the Gaara drama-llama for several hours, trying to figure out what to do with it, I remembered that I HATE drama-llamas. So I just shrugged and threw it out the window. Heh. Sorry. It might… erm… might come back later.

This really should've been two chapters since it was oh-so uuuuberly long (this is going to be the longest chapter ever with 43 pages to boot!) but I didn't want to break it up. I just didn't. Sawwy? And yeah, I know that the Itachi bomb was expected for you (yep, Itachi is a mental "rawr, I keeeeel jooooo!" bitch) but not so much for Naruto. So, yes. That is a dramatic ending. XD

Also... I know that there was no mad, mad smut, but it will come! But I am not going to rush it, so be patient, hm?

Oh, and u47033732 (Woo, that name's a doozy), THANK YOU! for pointing out my mistake. :DD I never would've caught it.

P.S. I hate this chapter with a fiery passion and I don't know why. (I wish to kill this chapter; it was soooo boring. Rawr.) PLEASE tell me if you like this and if you didn't, what I can do to make it more enjoyable! Onegai?

P.P.S. Reviews are what make this Fiction possible! -smiles innocently-