I'm sorry. A mixture of coursework and writer's block delayed this chapter. I rewrote it so many times I'm almost sick of looking at it.
I love your reviews because in the end they're what made me keep writing the damn thing.
I own lots of things but the rights to Naruto isn't one of them.
And yes. I put a Harry Potter reference in here...
Can
you tell me, softly I will sacrifice
How you'll always haunt me
Can you help
me
Hold me
Come to me now, slowly
You caress me,
smoothly
Calm my fears and soothe me
Move your hands across
me
Take my worries from me
I will
sacrifice
All I have in life
To clear my conscience –
X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X
"W-what?" Naruto choked out after a minute of total, stunned silence. "Gaara, you can't..."
"Why not?" Gaara furiously demanded. He harshly grabbed hold of Naruto's hand and Naruto flinched at the tight grip. "I want you to be with me not him!" Naruto's mouth fell open in shock.
"Gaara, we broke up over two years ago," he protested. "You were so far away and for the longest time I couldn't bear it but I thought we were moving on..."
"Well, maybe you did but I didn't! I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried!" Gaara said, fingers now digging painfully into Naruto's wrist. "Naruto, I love you!" And before Naruto could move or breathe Gaara had kissed him.
Naruto was torn. If he pushed Gaara away their friendship would be ruined. But if he kissed him back it would not only give Gaara false hope, it would also be like cheating on Sasuke.
After the longest minute of Naruto's life Gaara released Naruto and stared straight into Naruto's petrified blue eyes.
"Naruto, I mean it. Break up with Sasuke or I'll never speak to you again."
Naruto was thankfully saved from giving an answer immediately by the arrival of some of their classmates. Naruto sat frozen in his seat by the ultimatum Gaara had just given him as more students filed into the classroom for afternoon registration, noisy and cheerful. When Sasuke came in Naruto couldn't bear to look at him.
Gaara is my best friend...how could he do this to me?
How could I not know that after all this time he's still in love with me?
I can't lose Gaara as a friend...he's been there for me for everything since primary. But I can't give up Sasuke either.
What should I do?
X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X
When the school bell rang Naruto did something he wasn't very proud of. He bolted.
"Naruto, do you want to come see a film with..." Kiba stopped as he realised that Naruto had just run straight past him.
"Hey, dude, what the hell?" he yelled after Naruto's retreating back. Shikamaru tugged on Kiba's blazer.
"Too much trouble. Let's go." Kiba paused then shrugged.
"Fine, whatever. What do you want to see?"
Naruto kept running even though he heard Kiba's shout. He skidded a little as he dashed around a corner and avoided crashing into Tsunade.
"Brat, that hurt," she complained. "Hey, where are you going?!"
This doesn't count as running away. It's a tactical retreat. From giving Gaara an answer. From Kakashi knowing the truth. From possibly having to break Sasuke's heart.
Ugh, don't even want to think about the last one. Oh shit! Naruto cursed as he slammed into a girl as she walked out of Iruka's classroom.
"Oh God, I'm sorry," Naruto apologised profusely as he pulled the girl up.
"I didn't see....you," he trailed off as he realized who he was looking at.
"It's fine," Sakura assured him, picking up her bag. She did a double take as she looked at him closely. "Hey, don't I know you? We're in the same form, right?"
"Er, right," Naruto said awkwardly. He'd been so insanely jealous of this girl only yesterday. "I'm Naruto."
"Sakura."
"I know." Naruto handed Sakura a pen that had fallen out of her bag.
"Neh, Naruto? You've been in a class with Sasuke for a while, haven't you?" Naruto silently nodded, not sure where she was going.
"Do you know if he's seeing anyone?" Sakura asked excitedly. "Because Ino was being a real pig about it and I think she's lying."
Every nerve in Naruto's body was screaming 'ME!! He's dating ME!!'
But he just swallowed and somehow managed to choke out "No. No, I don't think he is." Sakura grinned, ecstatic.
"That is so great. That's awesome! Ino is such a liar. Do you think he would mind if I asked him out? Because I get the feeling he doesn't like the attention much."
"No. He really hates it. Really hates it. Gets mad if someone even tries," Naruto over elaborated. "Everyone pretty much stays away from him."
"Really? Even if I asked him to see a film with me next Saturday?" Sakura asked, sounding disappointed.
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. He'd had a long enough day as it was. As Gaara had pretty much screwed up him making out with Sasuke on the roof he really wanted to go home and sit in front of the TV with a pot noodle or three.
"He just...doesn't like the attention. And I heard a rumour somewhere he likes someone so..." Sakura pouted.
"Well, that's surely just a rumour. I'll try anyway. Thanks Naruto...oh, speak of the devil! (Oh shit) Sasuke! (bastard. Actually bitch for ruining Naruto's escape plan.) Hi!"
Sasuke didn't pay any attention to Sakura whatsoever except to grunt at her. "Naruto, could I talk to you? It's important," he added when Naruto opened his mouth to protest.
"Sasuke, do you think I could speak to you afterwards? It's just that I..." Sakura tried.
"Sorry Sakura but I'm leaving right now. Maybe tomorrow." Sasuke's cold fingers suddenly wrapped around Naruto's wrist, jolting him back to reality. No. Don't make me go with you. Because if you do I'm going to have to do something that makes me feel sick. Naruto pulled slightly against Sasuke but he fell as limp and unresisting as a puppet when Sasuke turned those beautiful eyes on him.
"Um. Bye Sakura," Naruto said finally, managing to get his voice box to work. Sasuke's grip became almost unbearable, fingers making deep marks in Naruto's wrist, pressing the skin so hard it turned white then red.
Naruto let Sasuke drag him down the hall, away from any ears or eyes before screeching. "Jesus!" Naruto yelped, reclaiming his wrist. "What the hell was that for?" he demanded angrily, rubbing the red marks on his wrist.
"Sorry," Sasuke said softly, taking Naruto's wrist and pressing it to his mouth. Tingles immediately went up Naruto's spine at the feel of Sasuke's lips on his skin. Ok, quit getting distracted! Naruto told himself.
"Why were you talking to her?" Sasuke said through a mouthful of wrist.
"She was asking about you. Seriously stop...ok then, don't." Sasuke pulled Naruto into a nearby classroom.
"Wait, yes, stop it!" Naruto resisted as Sasuke firmly shut the door. "We shouldn't be doing this!"
"Why not?" Sasuke inquired, loosening Naruto's tie, pulling it over his head and dropping it to the floor. Naruto paused. Somehow he didn't think 'My insanely jealous ex-boyfriend/best friend gave me an ultimatum which I haven't decided on yet and think I should quit making out with you until then' would really make Sasuke stop undoing his shirt. Go to kill Gaara, sure. Damn, third button.
"Sasuke, we're in school," Naruto prodded Sasuke's shoulder but instead got pushed onto a table.
"So? If that Sakura girl sees us maybe she'll quit being so annoying," Sasuke gently bit on Naruto's pulse.
"Or faint," Naruto said but thinking rationally was getting really hard. However he was still able to curse Gaara for wanting him to give this up.
Suddenly he noticed that Sasuke's warm mouth was gone and looked up into Sasuke's serious face.
"Is something wrong?" At times like this I wish I had a good a poker face as Sasuke! Naruto mentally groaned.
"Nothing. It's nothing," he lied through his teeth. It took a minute but Sasuke's teeth sunk back into Naruto's collarbone. Naruto gently rested his hands on Sasuke's back and threaded through his hair.
"Neh, Sasuke?" he said after a while. "You do like me, don't you?" He felt Sasuke stiffen under his fingers before pulling back and kissing the breath out of Naruto.
"What's wrong?" he demanded. "And don't say it's nothing this time, because I know there's something. You know how I feel about you so what the hell is bugging you?"
"It's nothing for you to worry about," Naruto replied, guilt showing all over his face.
"It is when you start acting weird. Talk to me," Sasuke insisted.
"No, stop pushing it!" Naruto pulled back from Sasuke a little too sharply and for a minute they stood still, Naruto's shirt still unbuttoned.
"Oh. I get it," Sasuke said in a strange, unemotional voice. "It's fine." Sasuke picked Naruto's tie up off the floor and dropped it in his lap.
"What?" Naruto hurriedly did his buttons up while he had the chance. "What the hell do you get?"
"You want to break up, don't you?" Naruto looped his tie over his head, totally confused. Sasuke thought he wanted to break up? He didn't want that at all but Gaara had made things complicated. However Sasuke interpreted his silence the wrong way and stalked out of the classroom.
"Oh shit!" Naruto cursed, dashing after him. "Sasuke, you idiot, slow down!"
Naruto pushed himself a little harder and tackled Sasuke before he could manage to get to his locker. He forcefully shoved Sasuke back against it.
"Bastard!" Naruto spat. "What the hell?" Sasuke gripped Naruto's wrist with one hand and a fistful of hair with the other.
"Let go," Sasuke growled. Naruto retaliated by pulling Sasuke forward and slamming him back. Sasuke grunted as his head connected with the metal.
"That hurt, loser," Sasuke hissed, his eyes nothing more than slits.
"Pretty boy," Naruto panted.
"Dead last."
Naruto made a frustrated noise. "Will you get off your pedestal for one minute and listen? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"What, you don't want to break up?" Sasuke asked quietly. When Naruto didn't answer he shoved Naruto away and began pulling things out of his locker.
"It's not that I want to," Naruto began protesting. Sasuke snorted derisively.
"Sure, you don't want to," he spat sarcastically. "What then? You've remembered that you hate me? You're having all the thoughts that you said to me in that detention where you so pleasantly rejected me? If you want to go suck face with Sakura that's fine by me." Sasuke's voice didn't rise in volume but by the last sentence he slammed the locker shut so hard it echoed down the hallway. Naruto winced.
"Sasuke, you don't understand," Naruto called desperately to Sasuke's retreating back. "Sasuke!"
"I don't care. I've had enough of you messing with me. Just leave me alone," Sasuke muttered without even turning around.
"I hope you realise that you've made this so much easier on me!" Naruto yelled.
"Good. Glad I could help," Sasuke said in his cold voice. If he'd bothered to look behind he would have seen that Naruto's face completely contrasted with the anger in his voice. "Now just get out of my life. I've had enough of you." And with that Sasuke disappeared out of a side door without looking back once.
I can't believe that just happened, Naruto thought numbly. I didn't want it to but it did. I hadn't even made my decision and I got it made for me. Sasuke, you asshole! Naruto rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve. "Asshole!" he mumbled.
Unnoticed by Naruto who was walking down the hallway in the opposite direction of Sasuke to get his bag Kakashi stood watching through a gap in the door. He closed it with a sigh.
Idiots, the both of them. Hm. He picked up his phone and tossed it into the air, thinking. When he'd made a decision he flicked it open and selected a name. He opened his book while it rang.
"We have a problem."
When Naruto got to the classroom and saw the flash of red hair he wasn't surprised. Gaara would have waited for him even if he hadn't made a decision yet. He silently crept up behind the redhead and wrapped his arms around his neck.
"Have you decided?" Gaara asked without saying anything about Naruto's unusual silence or tight grip around his neck.
"Yeah," Naruto said into his ear. "I've decided."
X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/XX
Sasuke was actually dithering outside the school gates. "Shit!" he muttered to himself. Would it have killed him to stop and listen for five seconds? Naruto had never actually said that he wanted them to break up and he'd just lost his temper and walked away without Naruto ever having the chance to tell him the truth. Shit, I'm an idiot sometimes, Sasuke sighed. I should go back. But just as he was about to turn around he heard a familiar bubble of laughter. Naruto was walking out of the other gate with Gaara. Jealousy flared up in Sasuke, as bright and hot as it always was.
Shit, Sasuke realized. I can't do anything. Thanks to my own stupidity we're not together anymore. Naruto didn't even look his way but Gaara did and Sasuke knew exactly what that look meant. Sasuke gritted his teeth. Gaara's eyes taunted him silently for a moment before they were out of sight. When Sasuke was sure they were out of hearing distance he screamed. "Oh this is just perfect!" he howled. "It took me forever to get him to go out with me and now this! If I ever get my hands on that smug freak I'll make sure he needs surgery to retrieve his testicles!!"
"Mature," someone interrupted Sasuke. "Would you get over yourself for a moment and get in the bloody car?"
If Sasuke was surprised at being addressed by a strange blonde sitting on a red MG he didn't show it.
"Who are you?"
The girl pulled off her sunglasses. "Get in the car."
"No. Tell me who you are." The blonde hopped off the bonnet and held open the passenger door.
"Look, your brother sent me to pick you up. So either quit whining and get in or walk home," she said, almost arrogantly gesturing for him to get in.
Sasuke was too tired to argue anymore. He sullenly threw his bag into the seat and climbed in after it. He glared at her as he did up his seatbelt.
"You know, you remind me of someone." Temari gleefully slammed the door in his face.
"I know," she sighed in exasperation, walking to the drivers' side. "You're rivals with my brother for the blonde dipstick."
Sasuke was playing with the seat controls. "What do you mean 'my brother sent you?'" he asked, tugging the seat back. Temari slapped his hand away from the controls.
"Don't mess around with my car, Uchiha," she muttered and started the car. She waited until they were moving before answering him.
"What I said. Itachi sent me," she said, smoothly changing gear. "He rang me up and more or less ordered me to come get you."
"You came?" Sasuke said in disbelief. Temari was the kind to get ordered around.
"Well, I swore at him first but I don't know what my brother's up to," she explained. "That's where you help me."
Sasuke slumped against the window. "He doesn't have to be up to anything. I lost Naruto out of my own stupidity." Temari glanced at him, suddenly feeling pity for him.
"I doubt that," she said absently. "I bet Gaara has something to do with it. I love my brother and all but he's a little bit obsessive sometimes."
"But why Naruto? I don't understand it," Sasuke admitted. Temari groaned.
"Shit, you don't know, do you?" Sasuke's eyes widened.
"Know what?" he asked suspiciously.
Temari slowed down for a junction. "Ok, don't get mad," she warned. "But he and Naruto had a relationship two years ago." When the car remained silent she turned to look at Sasuke.
"I'm going," Sasuke said calmly. "To do a lot more to him than rip off his balls."
"Okay," Temari said uncertainly. "Good luck with that," she snorted. There was a crunch.
"No!" she wailed. "Not my kettle crisps!" She turned on the offending cruncher. "Uchiha!"
"Look, I just lost the guy I've been in love with for two years to your brother. Either your crisps pay or he'll never be able to reproduce," Sasuke said coolly. Temari briefly mourned her crisps.
"We have to do something about this. Definitely."
"You're on my side?" Sasuke checked.
"Yeah. Gaara and Naruto have been just friends for two years. I think it's because Gaara never really got closure that he's doing. Besides you're actually in love with him. Seriously?" she asked incredulously. "That loud, simpleminded, noodle obsessed blonde?"
"Don't laugh," Sasuke muttered awkwardly.
"I wasn't going to. It's not something to laugh at. But...wow. You and him. Talk about opposites attract," she whistled.
"I know. And for like three hours today I thought it was going to work out." Sasuke's mind kept going back to the roof where Naruto had assured him that they were together.
"It'll be fine," Temari assured him. "No idea how. But it will." Temari screeched to a stop in a way that would have put the Knight bus to shame. "Now get out."
Itachi was standing by the door. Sasuke reached for his bag, cursing. "Shit, he knows?" Temari shrugged.
"I guess. I didn't ask," she peered over her sunglasses to look at the elder Uchiha perched on the porch step.
"Thanks for the lift," he said, undoing the seatbelt.
"Whatever. I'll talk to Gaara, ok?" He had one foot in and out of the car and stared at her with surprised eyes.
"You know if you weren't related to such a boyfriend stealer I could really like you." Temari's mouth twitched.
"Out."
