The Kappa
Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.
The school day had been long and dull. For the second day in a row Naruto had been off school with the flu. Although he had managed to convince his boyfriend that nothing was going on between him and Suigetsu, he hadn't seen him often enough to know how normal things were between them. Sasuke hadn't seen the kappa since the kissing incident either. Whether this was a good or a bad thing he didn't know.
"Who's that guy?" He had been attempting to zone out everyone's inane chatter but as Kiba practically shouted into his ears, it was hard to ignore.
"What are you going on about now?"
"That weird looking guy over there?" You can hardly talk about weird… Sasuke looked to where Kiba was pointing and froze. Suigetsu was sitting on the wall and watching the passing crowd with a bored expression on his face. At least he was wearing a plain black shirt instead of that stupid purple vest. "Do you think he's new?"
"Err…" He was hoping to get away before the boy noticed. Sadly Suigetsu was fairly observant and he started waving his arms and grinning at him.
"You know him?"
"Kind of… He lives near me." This was the only way he could think to put things.
"How come you've never mentioned him before?" Ino was looking his way with interest. New guys were usually of interest to her as she was one of the few people who hadn't noticed Choji's crush on her.
"It's never come up." He needed to get over there quickly so he could get Suigetsu away before he started weird conversations.
"Hey Sasuke~." Too late. Suigetsu put his arm around him and grinned.
"What are you doing here?"
"You're so cold. I was bored so I thought we could do something."
"Can't you ask someone else?"
"Why? You seeing Naruto? Got plans with friends? Homework? Family thing?"
"No but-."
"So you're free! Let's go!" He went to pull Sasuke away.
"So you're a friend of Sasuke's?" Sakura had come over in an attempt to be friendly.
"Suigetsu Hozuki, nice to meet ya."
"So did you just move here?"
"Yup, just round the corner from Sasuke."
"Well I'm Sakura, that's Ino, and he's Kiba." Before further questioning could occur, Sasuke decided to intervene.
"And we need to get going."
"Eh?" Suigetsu pouted slightly. "But you're the one who-."
"I changed my mind. Shift it." He managed to drag the kappa away before anything more could be said. His friends seemed a little confused but they were used to him being anti-social and so they didn't think much of it. When they were a safe distance away Sasuke could finally stop.
"Ok, why are you here?"
"To spend time with you. Are you an idiot?" He could feel his levels of anger rising.
"I don't want to spend time with you so get lost."
"If you didn't want to spend time with me then why did you drag me away?"
"To stop you from saying something weird or embarrassing to my friends!"
"Hmph. You have so little faith. It's not like you have anything better to do so you may as well spend time with me." Sasuke scowled.
"Why did you suddenly appear anyway? I haven't seen you in days. And how did you find my school?"
"I followed the red string of fate and it led me to you!"
"…"
"Ok, I followed you to school this morning so I could find you later." Sasuke had known something was off this morning. Obviously he'd been right. "Now come on, I don't get out much these days."
"Where have you been?" Suigetsu grinned.
"Did you miss me?" The boy fluttered his eyelids but Sasuke wasn't impressed.
"No. I was hoping you would go back."
"Ha! You're hilarious. And I was with Juugo if you must know."
"For the whole time? Poor guy."
"I know! He can be so boring sometimes."
"I was talking about Juugo."
"You're so cruel to those you love. Now come on, let's do something!"
"What do you want to do then?"
"I guess ice cream? Oh! And I want to go to the park!"
"How old are you again?"
"Just come on Sasuke~." There wasn't much for Sasuke to do except allow himself to be dragged along. Even if he'd tried to leave Suigetsu would probably make a scene. For someone who spent most of their time in a back garden pond, Suigetsu seemed to know the town pretty well. He stopped in front of the ice cream parlour, which at this time was filled with shrieking school kids and gave Sasuke an encouraging look.
"What?" He didn't like being looked at in that way. Usually people expected things from him.
"Buy me an ice cream mummy?"
"…"
"Please?" Suigetsu was attempting to look cute and failing.
"If you promise never to call me that again, I'll consider it."
"Fine. Now get me a cucumber one."
"They don't do a cucumber flavour!"
"What?!" He looked genuinely disgusted at this. "But why?"
"Because it isn't generally thought of as an ice cream flavour."
"Hmph." There was definitely some pouting. "I suppose I'll have to settle for strawberry."
"You're only getting a plain cone so don't even think about asking for one of those waffle ones."
"Tch. I better at least get some kind of flake though."
"No."
"Please~." He was getting in Sasuke's personal space again.
"Fine! Just back off." Ice cream acquired he started heading home but once again Suigetsu started tugging at his arm and whining about something. "What?!"
"Can't we go to the park?"
"…You're going to pester me until I say yes, right?"
"Obviously."
"As long as we're not out that long."
Suigetsu was practically skipping down the road at this point. Coupled with the strawberry ice cream, he looked ridiculous. It was probably impossible to get used to his strange behaviour. The only upside was that you would never get bored even if he drove you mad.
"Swings!" Sasuke jumped as Suigetsu shouted at started pointing at the children's park. "I wanna go on the swings!"
"Err…" The only other people in there were women and their children. "Aren't you a little… big?"
"But I've always wanted to try them!" The pouting resumed.
"You've never been on them?"
"I mostly spend time with you and Juugo or stay in my place, when do you think I would've gone?"
"That makes sense."
"I used to watch you playing on that one you used to have in your garden though and I always wanted to try it, so come on!" He grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards the swings, unbothered by the funny looks and any children who may have wanted to use the swings.
"Now push me." He was sat on one with a determined look on his face.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because you're old enough to swing yourself." I sound like his mother…
"But that's not as fun! Please~." It was like dealing with a toddler. Or a Naruto.
"Fine. Just stop whining." He gave the swing one slight nudge and went to sit on the bench.
"Hey!"
"What?"
"Don't be stingy with me!"
"You just said to push you and I pushed you, now play by yourself." He stalked over to the bench and pulled out a textbook. If he couldn't go home, he could at least get started on the chemistry homework.
Suigetsu pouted but continued to play on the swings, completely ignoring all the pointed looks from mothers whose children wished to go on. After five minutes of this he got bored and marched over to Sasuke.
"You know, when I said we should go do something I meant together."
"We are together. I'm here and you're there."
"But you're ignoring me. Come on Sasuke~." He sat next to him and leant on his shoulder grinning.
"We are playing in a children's park, that's not my idea of fun."
"True. But you're anti-social so there's not much you do like involving people." Sasuke scowled. "You know I speak the truth. Now let's do something. I've always wanted a day out with you!"
"What do you mean?"
"Juugo can't go out in the day and you're my only other friend so I wanted to do stuff with you." The emphasis on only friend and the big puppy eyes admittedly caused some guilt. He closed the textbook with a sigh.
"Where else did you want to go?"
"Yay!" He thought for a moment. "The sea!"
"Huh?"
"The sea! I haven't been there in so long!" He looked so keen Sasuke could hardly say no.
"Ok I guess… Can you swim in the sea?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well with all that salt, wouldn't it dry you out a bit?"
"Aww, you really do care!" The scowl returned.
"No, I just don't want to have to explain any weirdness."
"You just keep telling yourself that. And I can't go in the sea. For long anyway. And if I do I have to drink a shit ton of water. I just like looking at it is all."
"Ok… Wait, haven't you been out of water a while?" He vaguely remembered Suigetsu saying he couldn't stay dry for that long.
"I guess. Damn, maybe we should head back. Unless…"
"Unless?"
"Got any water?"
"How much do you need?"
"I guess… six litres would do?"
"I couldn't carry that much."
"Hmm… Well what you got?"
"Half a bottle."
"That'll have to do." Sasuke passed him the bottle and Suigetsu downed it in seconds.
"Don't you need to save some for later?"
"Nah. Now let's go!"
-Page Break-
The wind was blowing, it was overcast and the sea looked slate grey. It wasn't the best day to come to the beach but Suigetsu seemed pretty happy.
"Isn't that the most beautiful thing ever?"
"It's not bad…" Sasuke liked the sea but it looked kind of dull today.
"Hmph. You are a cold bastard. I think it's perfect." And with that he began stripping off.
"What are you doing?" At least he kept the boxers on.
"I'm just having a quick dip."
"But wouldn't that be bad for you?"
"I'll be fine dear. Now what do you think?" He struck a pose. "Don't I look sexy?"
"…Words fail me."
"I understand. It must be hard having to restrain yourself."
"…"
"Why haven't you got a nosebleed though?"
"That only happens in manga. And even if it was possible, it wouldn't happen for you."
"Oh! I know how to fix this."
"How?" This was answered when Suigetsu punched him in the face. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Look! You got a nosebleed!"
"Not from arousal, from blunt force trauma!" He gripped his nose to try and lessen the bleeding. "Why do you do these things?"
"Because I can." And then he dashed off into the sea, not a care in the world.
Why am I surrounded by morons? And perverts. And assholes… He could see Suigetsu splashing about in the water. He looked so happy and childlike it was almost sweet. From a distance he looked like any other swimmer, but up close you could see him fusing with the water. After a while he staggered up the beach looking tired but exhilarated.
"Woo!" He put his hands up and then threw himself onto the sand. "Now that was awesome. You're missing out."
"I'm not keen on swimming."
"You should be."
"Are we heading back now?" They'd been messing around for a good couple of hours.
"Yeah yeah, I've had my fun." As Suigetsu went to get up he suddenly paused. "Ah."
"What?"
"I don't think I can get up." He gave an apologetic grin.
"What does that mean?"
"My legs feel weak…"
"What?! So what am I supposed to do?"
"Not a clue…"
"I knew this was a bad idea…" He knew what he had to do but he wasn't very keen. "Right." He slipped his bag over his shoulder and then lent down. "Get on."
"Eh?"
"I'll carry you so get on." It would be annoying but he couldn't just leave him there.
"You would? I knew you cared!" Suigetsu grabbed him and Sasuke pulled up the other boy's legs.
"…You're lighter that I thought you'd be."
"I guess I am."
"I can't believe I'm doing this…" He wouldn't even do this for Naruto.
"Neither can I. Thanks though."
"No problem…"
"I'll have to provide you with extra fan service later to make up for it."
"I think I can go without…"