AN: Just call me Old Faithful. Still uploading chapters weekly like a boss. xD
Thanks to you all for the reviews again! You are the reason I try so hard to upload weekly. Oh, and late happy birthday, OreoCookie! Hope you had a good one. :D (And thanks for your review. Made me happier than the month of May.)
Red Storm
Chapter 9: New Resolutions
"It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions."
~ Jim Rohn
Naruto cracked open his eyes. They were so dry he might as well have been sleeping under a hair dryer. He smacked his tongue off the roof of his mouth. It felt thick, and the disgusting taste of alcohol and vomit assaulted his taste buds. What he wouldn't give for a bit of water. He could down the entire Niagara Falls right now and it still wouldn't be enough.
He groaned and tried to lift his head. It throbbed in protest. Man, his entire brain ached. He flopped back down and instead turned his head, the white pillow stirring beneath him. There on the bedside table was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen – a tall glass of water, two aspirin and his black touch phone.
Iruka, he thought with a smile, and reached out for the aspirin. He popped them into his mouth and raised his head again, this time ignoring the pain. Raising the glass to his mouth, he poured the deliciously refreshing liquid of life into his mouth, enjoying the cool sensation as it streamed down his throat. Water was seriously the best thing in the world.
He fell back onto the pillow with a sigh. That felt so freaking good. He must have drunk so much last night. It was all a fuzzy blur. He remembered coming home and that big row with Iruka. He lifted a hand to his hot forehead. Man, he would have to apologize properly now that he was sober. Yet the strange thing was, he felt oddly clean, like someone had washed him with water from the inside out. Was that how it felt to confide in someone? The corners of his mouth quirked up slightly as he thought about it. Iruka really was the best guardian ever.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see a small green light flashing on his phone. He threw his arm out of the covers once again and picked it up. Touching the screen, he unlocked it with the slide of his thumbs and then froze as the message came up on the display.
Ten missed calls from Sakura Haruno.
Naruto shot up in bed, ignoring the pangs of pain that shot through his head like lightning. Fuck! He had left her there at the party. He had just run home without even saying goodbye or walking her home or anything. What on earth had he been thinking?
Naruto tapped the missed call button and lifted the phone to his ear as it began calling Sakura. He rubbed his face. Man, she must be livid. He didn't even know what he was going to say. Sorry, I was just so shocked after I-
Naruto dropped the phone on the bed. It landed with a muffled thump and the sound of a robotic voice rose from the tinny speaker of his phone, but it didn't even register as the night's events became clear in his mind.
Last night , in the bathroom he had - he and Sasuke had - they had kissed.
Naruto pressed the cancel button on his phone, ending the call before it could beep to a message. He put it back on the table and just stared ahead of him in shock.
Sasuke had kissed him last night. The ghost of his lips still floated over Naruto's own and he touched his fingers to his mouth. Without thinking, he licked his lower lip, remembering the warm swipe of the other boy's tongue. His cheeks heated up as he realized what he had just done and he clapped a hand over his mouth.
Sasuke had kissed him last night. Sasuke had told him he liked him. What the hell was he supposed to think of that? It was Sasuke Uchiha for crying out loud, his bastard of a best friend.
Naruto groaned and fell back onto the pillow, raising the comforter to cover his face and hiding in its folds as more and more details began to march to the forefront of his mind. His best friend had told him he liked him and what had he done? Kicked him in the groin and told him never to speak to him. That was…really harsh. But, surely, Sasuke had just said something like that because he was drunk. They were caught up in the moment, right? Or had the alcohol brought out the truth? Naruto screwed his eyes shut trying to block out the thoughts and turned, burying his face into the pillow, wishing he could just get lost in a white world of fluffiness.
What must Sasuke think of him now?
Sasuke lay prone on his dark blue double bed staring straight up at the white ceiling. He had been this way for who knows how long, last night's events running over and over in his head. It was weird. He'd gotten home, drunk two jugs of water, stripped down to his boxers and then almost immediately fallen asleep, passing out under the influence of the alcohol. Guess it had affected him more than he'd thought.
But then this morning his body had had the cruelty to wake him up at the ungodly hour of 6 A.M. to pee. Since then he'd lain on his bed just thinking, or rather, trying not to think, but he couldn't stop his mind from going over and over that moment in the bathroom. Him kissing Naruto, Naruto kissing back for that one moment. Maybe it was the alcohol, but in that moment it had felt like the world had finally clicked into place, making sense, and hope had surged in his chest brighter than the sun. Then came the rejection, the pain and worst of all, the look of sheer hatred on his friend's face as he ran away. The world had turned black from there on in.
Sasuke sighed and raised his hand up, tracing the dark cracked patterns on the ceiling in the air with his finger.
Naruto hated him now. What had he been thinking to kiss another guy? To kiss Naruto of all people. Of course he would hate him. This wasn't normal. Would his parents even approve of this kind of thing?
Sasuke let his arm fall back, covering his eyes with his hand.
What was with all this uncertainty, this weakness? This wasn't like him. He wasn't used to this.
He opened his eyes, moving his hand away and frowned at the ceiling. No, he was Sasuke Uchiha. Confident and sure.
Sasuke sat up and looked at the family picture on his nightstand, the only one not marred by his hated brother's presence.
"What should I do?" he asked the two dignified figures staring back at him from the frame. His father's arm was around his mother, his face straight and unsmiling, but there was an inkling of pride shining in his eyes. His mother, for her part, was smiling softly, her dark eyes full of warmth. The two were such opposites.
Sasuke had asked his father once how he had proposed to his mother. Sitting around the table, his mother had laughed quietly.
"Actually, I wasn't interested in your father at first. It took a lot of convincing."
The man gave Sasuke a smug smile as he put his arm around his wife.
"The day I realized I loved her was the day she had no choice but to marry me. I did everything to make her mine. That's what Uchihas do. We stop at nothing."
He looked fondly at his wife and she returned the loving gaze with a smile. "You always were so overconfident." she said, pushing him lightly.
Sasuke stared at the photo of his serious-looking parents. That had been the only time he could ever remember seeing their soft side, the real feelings behind the stiff, proud masks they so often wore.
He tightened his fists as he looked at the picture. That's right. He was an Uchiha, not a common coward with a weak heart. This whole time he'd been questioning himself and his feelings when the situation was clear. Screw the uncertainty. Screw the weakness, and screw what the rest of the world might think. Uchihas stopped at nothing.
Sasuke clenched his fists and rolled out of bed, planting his feet firmly on the thick blue carpet. He stood up, facing the wall opposite the bed and glowered at the invisible nemesis in his mind's eye.
It was time for Naruto to find out just what Uchihas were capable of. It was time to make Naruto forget all about Sakura Haruno.
Steam poured out of the coffee machine, almost burning Naruto's face as he changed the filter and shut the plastic black lid with a click. He glared at the stupid machine. It was always malfunctioning. Picking up his plastic tray, he threw a towel over his arm and ventured into the main area of the café in search of used dishes and trash scattered on the small islands of wooden coffee tables. It was pretty quiet now, the lunch rush hour long since over and Naruto was trying to get as much sorted as possible before the next one hit. Ino and the rest of the staff were taking a break in the back while he handled things. Man, he couldn't wait till his break came round. His head was pounding and he felt tired to the point of nausea. All day he'd been nipping into the back for water to try and quench his never-ending thirst. Thank goodness he was on the afternoon and evening shift. Working mornings would have killed him today.
He bent over to pick up a half-full coffee mug. His head gave a particularly large pang, and he let out a soft groan of pain.
"Another bad day?" said a smooth voice, catching his attention.
Naruto looked up. Hisao sat in his usual large green armchair holding a white porcelain coffee cup. The man was almost hidden in the conclave of a small alcove. If he hadn't spoken, Naruto wouldn't have even noticed him. He smirked at Naruto's surprised look and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
"Oh, hi." said Naruto, then eyed the pack in Hisao's hand. "Uh, sorry, but you can't actually smoke here."
The man completely ignored him, pulling out a thin, white cigarette and snapping the lighter. He held the flame up to the end and lit it. Smoke began to rise and the dark end glowed a bright orange as it burned.
Naruto furrowed his brow. His boss would get mad if she saw a customer smoking in here. He walked over to the man, standing in front of the opposite chair, their distance divided by the black coffee table.
"I'm sorry, Hisao, but you-" he began.
"What happened with your little friend?" interrupted the man.
Naruto bit his lip and glanced at the counter. His boss wasn't there. He turned back to Hisao. "Which friend?"
"The one who was after your girl." replied Hisao.
"Oh," said Naruto, his face reddening as heat crept up his cheeks. "Uh, turns out he wasn't after her."
Hisao raised a brow. "Oh?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, the heat in his face now threatening to turn him into a walking tomato. "Yeah, uh, turns out it was me he liked."
Hisao didn't even blink. "I thought as much."
Naruto's mouth dropped open. "How could you know? I didn't even know."
The man grinned. "Call it intuition. From what you were saying, I figured it couldn't be as simple as you said."
He gestured to the chair behind Naruto. "Take a seat. Seems to me like you got some issues going on."
Naruto raised a brow. "What are you? My therapist now?"
The man shrugged, lifting the cigarette to his lips.
"Better than nothing." he said before inhaling the smoke.
Naruto glanced around the café. Barely any customers were in and they were all either reading or working on their laptops, and the rest of the staff were nowhere in sight. It couldn't hurt to get a bit of agony aunt going on, right? He sat down on the edge of the armchair cautiously, like a bird ready to fly off at the first sign of trouble.
"So." said Hisao, looking at Naruto.
"So…" repeated Naruto, his eyes darting around the café for any sign of staff or customer approaching.
Hisao sniffed and tapped his cigarette on the white saucer. "He likes you, huh? Do you like him back?"
Naruto shifted uncomfortably in the chair. What kind of question was that? "I, uh, I like Sakura - the girl I'm dating."
Hisao smirked. "You got a regular love triangle going on, don't you? Talk about teen drama." He took a long drag of his cigarette before continuing, "So, what do you see in her then?"
"See in her?" echoed Naruto.
"The girl you like." said Hisao, spreading his hands out as if it was obvious and he was being forced to talk to a five year old. "What's so special about her?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. It was weird talking about this with a guy he barely knew. "Um, well, she's smart, she's kind, she's pretty, uh, she has a nice smile…" He trailed off trying to think of how to describe her. Finally, he gave a decisive nod. "She's everything a guy could want in a girl."
Hisao cocked a brow. "Really?"
Naruto frowned at the disbelieving look in the man's eyes.
"Yeah." he replied.
Hisao snorted. "Sounds more like a checklist to me."
Naruto narrowed his eyes and put his tray down on the table. "What do you mean?"
Hisao regarded him with an amused smile. "It's like the checklist for the perfect girl. Sounds like something you copied and pasted from Wikipedia into an essay. The essay is your life by the way," he said, pointing at Naruto with his cigarette. "Just in case you were wondering. That's what I like to call a metaphor."
Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "And Wikipedia is…?"
Hisao shrugged. "I ain't thinking it through that deeply, kid. Wikipedia's whatever the hell you want it to be, a bunch of bullshit written by a bunch of people who don't check their sources. They say whatever crap comes to mind and everyone else eats it up."
Naruto stared. Ok, he'd lost him. "…What?"
Hisao threw his head back looking at the ceiling for inspiration. "Ugh, forget the metaphor. Jeeze. Let me put it for you this way. You're using every cliché in the book to describe this girl."
Naruto looked away and shrugged. "So what? Clichés are clichés because they're true."
Hisao took a long drag of his cigarette and breathed the smoke into the air before fixing Naruto with a penetrating stare.
"No. Clichés are bullshit lines used by people who aren't original enough to come up with their own ideas or feelings, so they just piggyback off of what everyone else has said thinking they have a clue what they're on about."
Talk about a dick remark. The teen opened his mouth to retort with some savory words of his own, but Hisao got there first.
"Tell me how you really feel about her."
Naruto frowned and looked at the carpet. It was an odd orange-y brown, the perfect mix of colors and non-colors to disguise any possible coffee stains to the casual eye. He bit his lip.
"She's…" he began before trailing off.
Sakura. How did he feel about her? What was it he liked about her specifically? Her smile? Yeah, it was beautiful, but that was physical. She was smart, but that wasn't a reason to like her. He scratched his head.
"She's…really nice." he finished lamely.
Hisao snorted, making smoke trail out of his nose as well as his mouth.
"Wow. Sounds like a real catch."
Naruto's eyebrow twitched slightly. "It's more than that. I just-I can't explain."
"Is that so." replied Hisao with a smirk. Naruto clenched his fists. He didn't need to be having this conversation with a random regular who obviously didn't have a clue what he was talking about.
"It doesn't matter what you think about it. It's just…she's a normal girl and I'm a normal guy, and we have a normal relationship, ok? End of story."
His eyes widened as he realized what he'd just said.
"Normal, huh? That sounds fan-freaking-tastic."
Naruto didn't answer. His mind was in a whirl, thoughts pounding through his head faster than the rhythm of his now rapidly beating heart. Was that why he liked Sakura? Because it was…normal? Because he wanted to be normal? Was she his ticket to being a regular guy?
"Tell me about him." said Hisao interrupting Naruto's thoughts.
"Who?" replied Naruto, looking up, almost grateful for the distraction.
Hisao raised a white brow. "The guy who likes you."
He tapped the cigarette on the white saucer sitting on the table, and Naruto's eyes followed the pieces of bright orange burning ash as they fell onto the porcelain, turning cold and gray the moment they hit the surface.
"Sasuke is a bastard." said Naruto at last, glaring at the ash. "He gets on my nerves and under my skin like no one else. He drives me insane."
Then he gave a sigh and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I do the same to him. It's weird, but he's my best friend."
Hisao took another drag of his cigarette. "Why?" he asked before blowing another cloud of smoke into the air.
Naruto shrugged. "I guess because we've been through a lot."
No, it had been before that. They had…before that…they had…
"We understood each other." he said at last, rolling back his shoulders and leaning back against the armchair. He looked up at a bland photo of brown coffee beans hanging on the wall above Hisao's head. The pungent smoke from the cigarette stung his eyes, but he ignored it, continuing to think aloud.
"We argue a lot, but he's always had the ability to see right through my bullshit when no one else could, and I could always see through his. He gets me, I guess."
Naruto took a deep breath and frowned. Crap. What was he saying? He put his head in his hands and tried to erase the thoughts, but it was too late. The realization was slipping in like cold wind through a broken window. It filled him up and his eyes widened, staring at his hands. Could it be that he-?
Hisao leaned forward interrupting Naruto's thoughts once again. "You said you'd been through a lot. What was it?"
Naruto looked at him distractedly. He'd almost forgotten the man was there. "What?"
"What have you been through?" repeated Hisao.
Naruto swallowed and stared at the ground. "That's…it's…personal."
Hisao nodded in understanding. "I saw some of it on the news, you know, last year. You guys brought down an entire drug ring, right? It was amazing." said Hisao. His cigarette lay forgotten between his fingers, burning slowly and sending up a thin line of smoke. "You guys are heroes you know."
Hisao grinned, a strange smile that reminded Naruto of a ventriliquist's dummy – oddly still.
"Was that the stuff you went through that you were talking about?" asked Hisao.
"I-" Naruto frowned. This guy knew who he was? Knowing that made him feel suddenly bare and naked. He drew back a little as Hisao leaned forward. "It's not something I like to talk about."
"Why? What happened?" asked Hisao. "I heard they put you on drugs. Is that true?"
Naruto stood up in a flash and picked up his tray as he glared at the man. "You're one of those reporters wanting the inside scoop, aren't you? I thought you guys gave up after the trial was over." He gave a short laugh and began to turn away. "I should've known there'd still be some cockroaches scurrying around."
Hisao raised his hands up in a placating gesture. "Whoa, whoa, wait a sec. You've got it all wrong. I'm not a reporter. I didn't mean to offend you or nothing, kid. I just hadn't realized you were that guy till now, so I guess I got a bit excited. I'm a bit of a fan is all. Take it easy, yeah?"
Naruto bit his lip and rubbed the back of his head. Maybe he was overreacting.
"…Fine. Whatever." he said. "Sorry, I get a bit paranoid sometimes."
"It's cool." said the man, leaning forward and stubbing out his cigarette in the saucer. "I shouldn't have asked anyway. It's none of my business."
He stood up and put on his black jacket. The arrogant smirk was back playing on his lips, and he gave him a casual one-fingered salute.
"Good luck with your boy trouble." he said before throwing a few dollars onto the table and heading out, the small bell attached above the doorway tinkling as he exited.
Naruto flopped back down onto the seat still holding his brown plastic tray, the soft green cushion sinking beneath his weight.
His mind was in a whirl. That conversation had been far more 'enlightening' than he had expected. He frowned as he thought of Sakura. All this time, had he just been using her as his ticket to a normal life? Get the perfect girl, go to university, have two point five kids and a dog with a white picket fence. Was that what he really wanted?
Naruto sighed. He'd thought so, but when he really thought about Sakura, what did he actually give her? What did she give him? Getting close to her had been harder than melting a polar ice cap, just like…just like her crush on Sasuke. Sasuke had zero feelings for her. It was all one-sided. Was that what this was? He was just crushing on her because she was his ideal?
Naruto put his head in his hands. If his feelings for Sakura weren't real, did that mean that he had feelings for Sasuke? The sensation of Sasuke's lips on his jumped into his mind, soft and warm, and he shook his head trying to erase the thought. No, he'd been drunk. They'd both been drunk. Besides, Sasuke was a guy. That Hisao man was just trying to mess with his head, probably wanted Naruto to join the ranks of the rainbow club.
He rubbed his eyes. Man, he felt tired, and that hangover wasn't doing much to help his thoughts. His brain felt like it was wrapped in a cotton cloud.
A bell rang at the counter, loud and jarring, and Naruto's head snapped up to see a customer standing there, looking around the café impatiently for a staff member. He shot up and went over to him.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir." He said to the customer, a skinny bearded man decked in tight jeans and a shirt that read 'Veganicity'. Another hipster. They really loved these coffee shops.
Naruto took the man's order and forced his mind to concentrate as he began filling the cup from the coffee machine. It hummed as the hot, dark coffee streamed out. No, he wasn't so far gone as to like a guy. He was not gay, dammit…but Sakura. He needed to talk to Sakura.
The desk was covered in thick a sea of papers and files packed to the brim with documents. A green-haired man flipped through a brown file and laid it in front of the dark figure sitting at the desk.
"This was all I could find regarding it, sir." said the green-haired man, gesturing towards the paper. "They could not verify it for the case, only taking the witness's word."
The other man nodded. "Thank you, Zetsu. It seems we'll have to find another way to verify this information."
He looked up at the other figures in the room. "I don't want any brash movements. We go about this delicately."
He turned to a tall figure standing before him with his hands shoved into his pockets. "Give me your report."
The man stepped forward into the light, his expression like that of a moody teenager despite the crisp black business suit. He kicked at the ground with his black polished shoe. "We're unlikely to get any information from the Uzumaki boy." he replied. "That kid's more paranoid than a schizo in a government conspiracy. If we wanna find out, we're going to have to go about things another way."
"I see." replied the man at the desk. He sighed. "Very well. Continue monitoring him, Hidan."
Hidan smirked, the metal piercing under his lip, glinting in the light. "If you like, I can take him in for you. I have some…effective methods."
The man held up his hand. "No. The last thing we want at this stage is to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves. We find out for certain first." he paused. "Deidara."
A man lounged against the wall, chewing on a gum bootlace, his long, blond hair snaking down to his waist in an oddly feminine ponytail. "Yeah, boss?" he said.
"I want you to approach Sasuke Uchiha. He's been looking for you after all." said the man. "Make it natural. Don't make him suspicious, don't make any confrontation and don't let him follow you. Get what we need and leave, do you understand? I want no mistakes."
Deidara grinned and gave him a casual salute. "You got it, boss." He scratched the back of his head. "What's so important about these kids anyhow?"
The man leaned back in his chair, his face disappearing into shadow so that only two narrowed eyes glinted from the darkness. "We have to be aware of the possibility of any obstruction to our plans. For that, we need to know if they're a threat." The man set his mouth in a thin line. "If they are, then they must be eliminated."
AN: Poor Sakura. She has no idea of what's coming. :D
