EDIT: Mkay, so I finished the chapter! Yay me! I finally got them to the QWC! So hopefull it'll be easier to write from here XDD
Wow… you guys don't disappoint, I woke up this morning at nine, took an hour long grueling walk with my mother and came back and immediately passed out on the bed, but when did wake up two hours later I stumbled out into the kitchen and said hello to my parents before taking a shower and contentedly getting on my computer. Normal day. EXCEPT when I got onto YIM I looked at the bottom of the screen and Low and behold! EIGHTEEN NEW MAIL MESSAGES! I am ecstatic! THANK YOU ALL SOOO MUCH! (I'm such a review whore) X33
To GHOST: Even though I'm sure you haven't the stupidity to come back and read my story, I thought I might use you as an example for all other flamers. I understand your dislike of yaoi, and if you are a homophobe, that's okay too, but please, PLEASE stay the hell away from my story and other yaoi stories if you don't like them, I will continue writing whether you like it or not! Try to find a spot in your brain to jam in the fact that others have DIFFERING OPINIONS! OhMyGod NO FUCKING WAY!
To all other potential flamers, I will address you personally in upcoming chapters for others amusement. And please, don't use a lame nickname like Ghost, I'm sorry, but I can't take offense from some geek on the internet without a real name.
Chapter SEVEN
Recap: Omigod! Sasuke is afraid of cars? Naruto flirted and Ginny asked questions leading up to Sasuke getting kicked in the shin. Arthur tested out the Hyper Drive on his new car and got hit for it by Mrs. Weasley. Naruto and Sasuke finally kissed for the second time! (not that the first time was anything special, after all, they were only students in the academy and it was an 'accident' that would put a twinkle in many a fangirl/boy 's eye for many years to come!) Now Naruto is running from Sasuke and his mask's strap is broken! Oh noez! What'll he dooo?
The story:
Sasuke launched himself at the blonde shinobi. Naruto parried by jumping over him, kicking him in the back and then landing gracefully on the lawn while Sasuke landed unceremoniously on the ground a few feet away.
"You broke my mask, you bastard!" he kept the porcelain visage in place with one hand and pointed accusingly at Sasuke with the other.
"What!" Sasuke spat out a mouth of grass and jumped to his feet, "I don't see any cracks! And you—you kissed me!" he hissed.
"I'm an ANBU." Naruto looked at him despairingly and indicating the broken strap on the side of his mask, "My mask is my trade. If it's broken, I can't work." Naruto's eyes slanted suggestively, "If I remember correctly, you didn't exactly reject my kiss, Sasuke." He said the Uchiha's name one syllable at a time.
Sasuke reddened. With a snarl he lunged at Naruto, catching him off-guard and pinned him to the ground. Sasuke reached for the mask but his hand was caught by Naruto's free hand. Pulling the Uchiha sideways, Naruto rolled on top of him and pinned one hand above Sasuke's head. The other he trapped underneath his knee.
The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione watched amusedly from the sidelines. To the women (Hermione, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley) it was painfully obvious of Naruto's attraction to Sasuke, and they thought it was romantic how said boys were interacting with each other. In other words: they were closet yaoi fangirls.
The men enjoyed the fact that they were fighting. I mean, seriously, who doesn't enjoy a good fight!
And although he would never admit it, Harry enjoyed the fact that Naruto was on top of Sasuke. Very hawt.
Meanwhile, the fighting had ensued and after action-filled minutes had passed and the dust had settled, Naruto sat cross-legged on top of a hog-tied and very pissed looking Uchiha.
"Feel better?" He asked.
Sasuke answered with a slew of colorful words that would have made his mother very angry if she had been alive to hear him.
"Didn't think so." Naruto sighed.
-------
Molly and Arthur Weasley sat in their kitchen that night and talked. They had managed to calm Sasuke down and fix Yuubi-san's mask without too much name-calling.
"Arthur?"
"Yeah, Molly?"
"Do you think Sasuke can handle being a DADA teacher? I mean, he's still a child himself." Molly fussed around the kitchen with nervous energy.
"Molly, I'm sure he'll adapt." Arthur fiddled with his tea cup.
"If you're sure." Molly didn't sound convinced.
"I'm not." Arthur sounded tired.
"Is something wrong?" Mrs. Weasley went over and put a comforting arm around her husband.
"Oh, it's nothing." He sighed.
"If you say so dear…" Molly sighed.
----
Sasuke looked up at the poster-plastered ceiling from his corner of Ron's room. Yuubi-san had (thankfully) been put in the twin boy's room to sleep for the night. Sasuke tried to comfort himself with this thought as he closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but a lingering thought kept him awake.
Annoyed, Sasuke rolled into a more comfortable position. I'm glad Yuubi-san isn't in the same room as me…
The thought struck again. This time it was a little more forceful. Sasuke felt his resolve weakening by the second. Well, he is around my age… And a good kisser… Not to mention an ANBU captain, so I wouldn't have to worry about him getting captured by any enemy ninja without a fight…
"Dammit…" Sasuke moaned softly through the covers. I have a crush on my ANBU partner whose face I've never even seen.
Tap. Tap. Sasuke snapped to attention. The noise came again, from the window.
With all the skills a ninja of his rank possessed, Sasuke crept over the sleeping bodies of Ron and Harry. Silently, he eased the window open.
"What the hell do you want?" He hissed at the porcelain face of the very man he had been trying to forget about.
"Get dressed." Yuubi-san ordered.
"Wha—why?" Sasuke looked down at his wardrobe; a black tank top and boxers.
"Training." The ANBU replied from his position outside the window, "Meet me in the backyard in 5 minutes." Yuubi-san let his hold on the window ledge go and disappeared in a puff of smoke without another word.
Sasuke swore under his breath. It was typical that Yuubi-san would want to train at this time of night, after all, before you could be an ANBU you had to be a jounin. Everyone knows that most jounin are a little eccentric, with the exception of Sasuke; Uchiha's aren't eccentric. (Okay, so maybe some of them are, but the majority aren't.)
He was dressed in one minute; putting on black pants and sandals doesn't take a lot of time. The whole time, thoughts and memories of the mysterious ANBU floated around his head. The kiss Yuubi-san had given him in the car was particularly vivid in his mind's eye. Sasuke felt his face redden when he realized that he had, in fact, gotten the ANBU mask off of the man and had been distracted by the kiss. So Sasuke didn't hold it against Yuubi-san for not telling what his real name was. Next time, Sasuke thought sourly, next time I will find out who you are.
Harry turned over in his sleep and rolled on top of the remainder of Sasuke's ninja clothing. It would be too time consuming to get everything out from under the sleeping teen, so Sasuke climbed out of the window without it. Two minutes later he stood in front of the fully clad ANBU captain.
---
Naruto took on an air of boredom and surveyed his fingernails and straightened his gloves. "You're late." He purred.
He heard the Uchiha prodigy splutter in indignation. "What! I was here in three minutes when you gave me five!"
Naruto smirked and shifted the bundle of clothing he had brought with him in his arms, "Three minutes is long enough to be killed. Here." He thrust the bundle into the scowling Uchiha's arms.
"A uniform?" Sasuke noticed the white armguards and leg-guards and the white vest of ANBU; but it was missing something. "Where's the mask?"
Naruto nodded sagely, "So you noticed. I am to be your master and guardian as you become an ANBU. I suppose if we were villagers I would be called your role model."
Sasuke frowned, is he trying to change the subject? "How old are you anyway? And what does that have to do with there being no mask?"
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I told you my age." Naruto mused, "I'm twenty-three. And as far as the mask goes, you'll get it when I think you're ready for it."
Sasuke blinked, Yuubi-san was two years older than him. So it meant that Yuubi-san was someone one or two years ahead of his graduating class. Sasuke stored this information in the back of his head for later use. "So what now?"
"Now, we train." Naruto indicated he should set the clothing aside. Sasuke did so and faced him.
-------
ANBU training, Sasuke realized two solid hours later as he was doing sit-ups, hurt. All of the muscles in the Uchiha's arms, legs and stomach screamed for him to stop and rest. Yuubi-san must have noticed his lack of enthusiasm and commented, "There will be no reprieve on a mission." The blue eyes behind the mask softened, "The training only gets harder from here."
"I know." The voice that replied was cracked and horse from lack of water.
Yuubi-san surveyed him for a moment. "Come on." He walked over and helped Sasuke to his feet. "We're done for today, tomorrow we'll take off so your body has a chance to get used to the activity." Sasuke let the ANBU help him up, "Can you walk?"
That was a silly question to ask, Sasuke thought, of course he could walk! Obviously his legs disagreed. When he took a step forward, his knees buckled. Instead of falling, though, Sasuke found himself cushioned against Yuubi-san's chest.
"I guess not." The ANBU chuckled, "Don't worry, it happens to everyone."
"Did it happen to you?" Sasuke asked, fighting his embarrassment.
"Yeah, but I didn't have a good-looking ANBU captain to carry me back to my room." Yuubi-san picked Sasuke up bridal style and began to walk towards the house.
"I disagree." Sasuke muttered, trying not to look at him.
"What?"
"I haven't seen your face yet, so how do I know whether you're good-looking or not." Sasuke hmph-ed and hoped fervently that Yuubi-san's eyes weren't as sharp in the night as they were in the day. His face felt like it was on fire.
"True, true." Yuubi-san agreed, "But there's plenty of time for that later."
--------
(A/N: I lost track of what day we were on, so I'm being a lazy-ass and skipping to Saturday morning…)
Naruto had deposited Sasuke in Ron's room and had no sooner returned to the twins' room before a loud and exuberant voice made itself known on the other side of the door.
"Wake up--!" Molly Weasley chirped, "You boys need to get going so you can make it to the Cup!"
Naruto resignedly got off the ground with a grunt and made the hand signals for the genjutsu. Fred and George awoke to find a brunette walking out the door.
at the hill
Naruto glanced over at Sasuke. The younger man looked like he was going to pass out any minute now.
Maybe I shouldn't have pushed him so hard yesterday…
Bah, you did the right thing, Kyuubi rumbledtiredly, how else do you train someone to be able to function properly with only a few hours of rest?
True, but I still don't like doing this to him, Naruto slowed his pace slightly to walk behind the Uchiha up the hill in case he fell backwards.
Don't let your compassion for him get in the way, Kyuubi's temper had a short fuse as of late. Naruto suspected it had to do with the solstice being so near.
I know, I know. Naruto sighed as they reached the top of the hill and the Weasleys spread out and began searching for something. A shout rang out and Naruto snapped his head in the direction of it, his senses on high alert.
It was only a man with a beard, followed by a taller boy. They introduced themselves as the Diggory's; Amos and Cedric Diggory. Amos was holding a moldy boot in his hand. Naruto wasn't sure why at the moment, but he found out soon enough.
----
Ow…ow ow ow ow ow ow… Sasuke was a mass of soreness. It didn't help matters when Arthur had instructed them all to grab onto a boot that looked like it should be in a toxic waste dump only to find that not only did the boot feel slimy under his fingers, it also made him feel like he was being sucked through a bendy straw. Suddenly he was thrown forward. Sasuke's already sore leg muscles didn't like this action and he fell, closing his eyes for the impact.
Sasuke hit the ground with a thud; but something was wrong. The ground shouldn't have rock-hard abs and the ground definitely shouldn't be breathing.
"Trouble walking?" Yuubi-san taunted.
"Shuddap." Sasuke snarled.
--
Their tent, Sasuke decided, was as freakish as the car. "I appreciate everything you've done for me, Arthur, but I think I'll just sleep outside." He tried to be as polite as possible.
"But it's going to be freezing out there!" Mr. Weasley cried.
"It'll be fine, Arthur-san." Yuubi-san interjected, putting a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "I'll make sure he doesn't freeze or do something stupid."
Arthur looked like he was going to argue but he sighed, "Do what you want."
Yuubi-san followed Sasuke through the tent flap. Sasuke glared at him, "I resent that."
"It's true, though. You might do something stupid if you're left alone, and we can't have that." Yuubi-san smiled and brushed a strand of brown hair out of his eyes.
The makeshift tent was set up in a matter of minutes. Yuubi-san instructed him to go and scan the surrounding area and memorize its layout. Sasuke nodded and set out, activating his double Sharingan.
--
Naruto let his genjutsu go as soon as Sasuke left. A cold layer of sweat covered his body.
It's getting harder to control my chakra… He thought silently to himself.
Kyuubi wasn't speaking, but Naruto could feel the kitsune shifting sleepily in the back of his mind.
Night came on fairly quickly. As promised, Naruto and Sasuke didn't train that night, but Naruto didn't let himself go to sleep until he was sure Sasuke was out for the night. He slept in his ANBU form, therefore he couldn't allow himself to be caught off-guard for a moment. All in all, when Sunday rolled around Naruto was exhausted, cold and damp from the condensation of the morning.
Naruto didn't like the prospect of the solstice at all. If he was already tired from missing two nights of sleep, then it meant he was either very out-of-shape or on a down-hill slope to disaster. Naruto knew it wasn't the former, so it must be the latter. With a tired sigh, Naruto took off his mask, enjoying the feeling of the coolness on his face—it gets stuffy under a mask.
Sasuke stirred and Naruto began to make hand-signs for his genjutsu. When Sasuke turned his bleary eyes to Naruto he saw a brown-haired man. Naruto put a hand to his lips and crawled over the Uchiha and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to go look around, see you at breakfast."
"Wha time s'it?" Sasuke mumbled.
"Five, they won't wake up for a bit, so feel free to sleep-in till around seven." Naruto said softly and pulled on Sasuke's blanket so it covered him more efficiently.
Sasuke nodded and whispered a barely audible, "Thanks." Then he closed his eyes. When he woke up two hours later he would not remember their conversation.
Naruto let his genjutsu fall—there was no sense in wasting chakra to walk among people who had no idea who he was. The ANBU mask had been set in the inside pocket of his bomber jacket—the Weasley's had been kind enough to outfit him with more 'muggle clothing' before they left for the QWC (A shirt, pants, jacket ect...)
A humming noise reached his ears and it grew louder as he walked between the tents. Before long it had become a dull roar and as Naruto maneuvered himself around an extravagant tent, he came face to face with a Bazaar. Everything was decked out in two colors: Burgundy or Green.
Naruto grinned, a mask would just bring unwanted attention, and a genjutsu would drain his energy; but no one said anything about a hat or scarf. He bought a large green scarf from a loud merchant and wrapped it around his face.
"If you pull on thees tassle," the merchant yelled over the noise of everyone else, "Eet weel be comftable een even desert, yees?"
Naruto thanked him and moments later stopped to buy an oversized green hat with a shamrock in it from another loud foreign merchant-girl. With the hat covering his hair and most of his forehead and the scarf covering the other two-thirds of his face—only leaving a vertical strip long enough for him to be able to see out—he was virtually incognito.
An hour later he finally made his way back to the tent, running into Sasuke on the way to the Weasley's tent. The Uchiha's hair was sticking up in all directions and Naruto laughed from behind the scarf.
"Mornin' sunshine." He remarked and passed him into Arthur and co.'s tent where he was greeted by many chorus' of 'who are you?'
"Why, its me: Yuubi-san, the master of disguise!" Naruto's previous mood had disappeared and his normal good-humor had returned. To his amusement he heard Sasuke splutter in surprise behind him.
"What are you wearing?" his voice sounded croaky.
"Like it?" Naruto crinkled his eyes in a smile at him.
"You look ridiculous." Sasuke rasped.
"Are you okay?" Charlie asked, "You don't sound so well."
"Here, have some tea." Ginny poured the steaming liquid and Sasuke looked at the proffered cup.
"Thanks." He croaked and sat don next to the red-headed girl looking a good-deal happier than Naruto had seen him for a time. Ginny blushed and giggled.
----Meanwhile… In Sasuke's mind----
Tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea tea, tea! Finally I have TEA! God bless that Ginny-girl! This is the best fucking thing that has happened to me this entire trip…well, maybe the second-best thing…
----
"Come on kids, the game starts in two hours, we need to be getting to our seats!" Arthur rubbed his hands together excitedly.
"Yeah, we got the best seats in the house!" Bill elbowed Naruto and winked, "So you rootin' for Ireland?"
"umm… Sure." Naruto said lamely.
"Atta boy!" Charlie slapped him on the back and headed out the tent, "Come on, we want to beat the crowds!"
TO BE CONTINUED!
Jeezus, that was a LONG CHAPTER! Hope you all liked it! Oh and
READ THIS: THE WHOLE 'NARU'S EMOTIONS IN THE EARING' THING, NOT GONNNA HAPPEN, I GOT NOTHING FOR THAT PLOT, SO I'LL GO CHANGE THAT PART LATER, BUT PRETEND LIKE NARUTO NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THE EMOTIONS BEING IN THE EARING.
OH, AND READ AND REVIEW! THANKS, YOU'RE ALL GREAT! D
