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Chapter 10! We're nearing some serious feels...
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Chapter 10.
One Phone Call.
The art of deception is one that sentient beings have been practicing for years. We use lies to avoid hardships or uncomfortable situations. It's our weakest form of armour, as lies are effortlessly shattered; leaving the truth uncovered in the worst possible light.
However, with our primal brains, we all believe that we will be the one to outsmart honesty and keep our lie alive.
Some of us, those who are most at risk in this world, have a knack for self-deception. These are the people who can deny reality and rationalise their own lies, with evidence they've manipulated and curated themselves. These are the people who are dangers to themselves.
Sasuke Uchiha was one of these people.
Sasuke believed his own manic behaviour was safe. Sasuke was lying to himself.
Sasuke was a danger to himself…
"I'm eating it, see, lovely?" Sasuke made a very deliberate and over-the-top noise of satisfaction. "Delicious," he said, pulling a challenging face at Naruto as he crammed a piece of toast into his mouth.
Naruto only watched him with a look of disdain.
"Don't play with your food, Sasuke," he muttered caustically and Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"You don't have to treat me like a naughty child that won't eat its vegetables; breathing down my bloody neck everywhere I turn," Sasuke wrinkled his nose in distaste, "it's very off-putting." He said as he gnawed on the toast crusts. "Besides, haven't I proven myself by now?" he queried, "I mean, look at me eating breakfast like a functional adult." He lifted a fork from his plate, dripping in the revolting bean sauce, and waved it pointedly.
Ever since that day and the incident: Naruto had kept schtum about all of his fears for Sasuke's health. Sasuke felt horrible about this, because he knew Naruto's silence was down to his own bullying. He had exploited his and Naruto's ambiguous relationship, by telling him that if he didn't keep quiet, then Sasuke would leave town and Naruto would never see him again.
Naruto had not gone down without a fight though. He was spending more and more time at Sasuke's apartment; gratingly monitoring Sasuke for every meal that he ate, making sure that he swallowed a full portion. He also managed to interfere in Sasuke's gym time by warning the gym staff against letting Sasuke in more than once a day for more than half an hour. Infuriatingly this meant that Sasuke constantly had to make excuses to go to the shops, just so he could go on a jog; often skipping to the next town just to extend his workout. He swore, if he had to 'pop out' to buy 'one more jar of cumin,' he was going to fucking implode. His flat was basically a spice emporium these days for the sake of his fat burning.
Naruto might think he was clever, monitoring and controlling Sasuke's life in this way, but Sasuke was cleverer. He spent the few hours Naruto permitted him alone time, trawling pro-anorexia forums. These people had problems, he knew that, but they also had some good ideas. For example, to prove to Naruto that he was gaining weight; Sasuke would chug gallons of water, throw on the loosest clothes he owned and hop on the scales. The excess water weight added pounds to him and pleased Naruto. Every time Naruto made Sasuke eat one of his disgustingly large meals, Sasuke would push his food around the plate, talking animatedly to Naruto as he did so to distract from the fact that he'd only touched half of the meal; which he later regurgitated.
His purging behaviour had come at a price however. Sasuke's knuckles had become tough and warped where his teeth had scarred them so many times, catching on the flesh as he forced his fingers down his throat. He'd also come to understand that the toothache he'd been experiencing, was the result of erosion; his back teeth had decayed horribly from the constantly flushing of acid vomit.
It was all worth it though, because Sasuke hadn't gained a single pound. In fact, he'd continued to lose weight, right under Naruto's nose.
"Proven yourself," Naruto scoffed, flicking the page of the copy of NME he was thumbing through lazily. "This isn't some job interview, Sasuke."
"I'll let you weigh me, later," Sasuke offered, trying to make it sound tantalizing as he whipped his half-eaten meal off the table before Naruto could scrutinize the plate.
"Sure," Naruto nodded distractedly.
"Something wrong?" Sasuke frowned, noticing how vapid and distant Naruto looked sat at the breakfast bar.
"Sorta," Naruto muttered and Sasuke opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but they were interrupted by the arrival of Itachi.
Sasuke's brother was doing much better. Having done all that the doctors had asked, he was almost fading back to a half-human shade of peach.
"Yo," he raised a hand and Sasuke nodded, still watching Naruto, who rustled the pages of his magazine.
"You off out?" Sasuke eyed Itachi shrewdly and Itachi grunted.
"Yup, gotta get my jellies," he laughed humourlessly – jellies, the heroin addicts slang for the small, brightly coloured cups of methadone they doled out at the chemist. Sasuke thought they looked rather like the shots of neon mouthwash dentists handed you after an examination.
"Call me when you get there," Sasuke insisted, nestling into the nook of countertops, watching his brother move towards the front door.
"Call me when you get there, you're such a mother-goose, Sasuke," Naruto chuckled as the front door slammed.
"Not really, I just like to keep tabs on him; make sure he's not choking on his own vomit on some dudes sofa, y'know, the heroin addicts downfall," Sasuke shrugged and Naruto sobered up immediately.
"Sorry."
"Don't be, that was meant to be funny. It wasn't, was it?"
"No," Naruto told him fairly, with a faint smile.
"So," Sasuke began eyeing Naruto thoughtfully, "what's got you down? Normally you're irritatingly chipper at this time in the morning – kind of like a cheerleader, cheering me to stuff my face with cheerios," Sasuke cocked his head questioningly.
Naruto sighed deeply, and shut his magazine with a little too much severity. Then he ran his hands through his already tousled golden hair, until it stood on end like he'd been tasered.
"Sakura," he muttered looking miserable.
Sasuke pursed his lips at the name; Sakura seemed to be the root of just about everyone's problems at the moment.
"What's happened?" Sasuke asked, moving to sit opposite Naruto.
"She's asked me," Naruto began, fiddling with the pages of his NME, "to be her character witness in court." He leant his head on his hand heavily.
"What?" Sasuke said in a tone of disbelief and Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, she wants me to go to court and tell everyone what a lovely person she is," he glanced up at Sasuke. "And the thing is, she is usually, isn't she? She's great, but then she's gone and pulled this shit – and what she's done to Temari and Shikamaru, that's not what friends do…How can I tell a jury what a fantastic person and friend she is, when she's responsible for losing them their son?" He screwed his eyes tight shut, a look of contrition lancing his handsome face.
Sasuke felt a stab upon seeing Naruto's misery, like he himself felt Naruto's pain.
"She can't ask you to do that," Sasuke murmured and Naruto breathed out slowly and unsteadily.
"But she has, and I don't know what to do."
"Why ask you though – why not Ino? It makes no sense," Sasuke shook his head with a frown.
Naruto averted his gaze from Sasuke's and placed his hands flat between them.
"There was this thing between us, when we were like seventeen. I mean it ended pretty fucking promptly – like, one week I was a single virgin, by the end of the week I was still single, but lost the good ol' v-plates…" Naruto laughed shakily. Sasuke didn't laugh, he felt inexplicably stony. "Anyway, I guess even though it ended, she still kinda holds onto that bond," Naruto shrugged and then glanced up at Sasuke. "Sasuke?" He prompted and Sasuke blinked, wondering how his face must look; did it reflect the bitterly jealous monster raging inside him?
"Hmm? Oh," Sasuke shook his head to clear it of his own inane envy. "Even if that's the case, she can't expect this of you," Sasuke said softly, reaching across the table to rest his fingers atop Naruto's. "This isn't your problem, Naruto, you can't fix the world." Naruto made a noise of vague agreement, however he looked unconvinced. "Hey," Sasuke said thinking on the spot. "As you're pretty much shacking up at mine now – why don't you just stay here tonight? We can just chill, smash out some Battlefield, just have a Sakura free zone?" He suggested.
Naruto met Sasuke's eyes looking surprised and then grinned.
"Sure," he nodded, "I'll take you down."
Sasuke was in a better mood than usual at work, he didn't even snap at his shift changes.
"This design is too small for here, and the ink will bleed…" Sasuke was explaining to a woman, who was holding her wrist out to him, blushing furiously as he brushed her skin with his marker pen. "I'd move it up here," he circled a point on her forearm, "that way…"
"Oi, Sasuke!" Karin interrupted them and Sasuke paused, leaving the nib of his Sharpie resting on the woman's arm.
"What?" He frowned, "I'm trying to help a customer," he jerked his head towards the shy woman with a crop of black hair.
"Well, I'll take over," Karin smiled her false customer service grin, adjusting her boxy glasses on her nose. "Miss Hyugga, yeah? Booked in for twelve?" Karin glanced down at the bookings pad and the woman nodded fervently, glancing between Sasuke and Karin anxiously.
"Two seconds," Sasuke mouthed to the nervous woman, holding up to fingers. "What is it?" He asked Karin in an irritable undertone.
"There's a call for you in the back room," she muttered without looking up.
"Who is it?" Sasuke asked and Karin shrugged, stealing one of the complimentary peppermints Sasuke and she had survived off in their broke days.
"I dunno – some woman, she sounds pissed, girlfriend maybe?" She peered at him over the thick rims of her glasses. "I'd go take it before she busts the speakers and you owe old Orochi a new phone," she arched an eyebrow.
Sasuke straightened up abruptly.
"See you in a sec," he mumbled before dashing off to the back room.
The parlours backroom was archetypally 'tattoo shop.' With skateboards lashed to the walls and their energy drink sponsor's logo tacked onto every surface. Sasuke hurried to the silver phone, resting off the receiver on the admin desk, and fumbled to press it to his ear.
"Sasuke Uchiha, Naka Shrine Tattoo Parlour," he said in his most professional intonation.
"Oh, hello Sasuke Uchiha of Naka Shrine Tattoo Parlour," drawled a familiar female's voice.
"Temari?" Sasuke frowned, slightly breathless as he sat on the edge of the desk. "Why're you calling me at work?"
"Emergency," she told him bluntly and Sasuke bolted upright.
"What's happened, who's hurt?" Sasuke's choked.
"Tssk, pipe down, you moist toilette," Temari chided and Sasuke fell back onto the desk, confused.
"Then what?"
"I need you to act as Shikamaru and I's advocate – we need you to temporarily home Shikadai." She told him flatly and Sasuke choked on nothingness.
"What?" He asked in a strained voice.
"Yeah, we've got evidence against Sakura that'll clear us so we can get Shikadai back, but we need to put him into a temporary home, obviously one of you lot," she explained and Sasuke shook his head opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish.
"What about Sai and Ino?" He asked in a reedy little voice.
"Our first choice, obviously," Temari said, leaving Sasuke feeling exceptionally un-flattered. "But it turns out Sai's got previous, some pitiful graffiti charge, but we can't risk the social having anything to use against us," Temari explained sounding annoyed.
"Temari, have you completely forgotten that I live with a bloody heroin addict?" Sasuke hissed, glancing through to the main floor to check that their conversation wasn't being overheard.
"Yeah, I know, isn't it fucking awful that you're our best shout? I mean Neji and his vegan crazed household are a no go. Kiba, absolutely fucking not. Naruto doesn't even live on legal premises. So actually yes, you and your junky brother are our best option," Temari snapped and then in a softer tone. "Please, Sasuke?"
Sasuke rocked on the balls of his feet, in a panicky little dance as he gnawed furiously on his bottom lip.
"Urgh, for how long exactly, Temari?" Sasuke whispered covertly into the receiver.
"A fortnight, tops," she promised quickly and Sasuke closed his eyes with a heavy sigh.
"Yeah, fine, but when the social comes over to assess me; you're babysitting Itachi – you can feed him his methadone and everything." Sasuke bargained in a stroppy tone that Temari didn't seem to notice.
"I'll babysit whoever you want for a bloody lifetime, Sasuke, if you do this for us; thank you, thank you!"
"Yeah, whatever, now let me get back to work."
"So, Shikadai's coming to live here?" Naruto asked later that night, smashing the buttons on Sasuke's second Xbox control.
"Apparently so," Sasuke sighed, his eyes following his avatar closely on the screen.
"Wow, so you'll be…Y'know…Surrogate dadding," Naruto laughed and Sasuke screwed his face up.
"Please – enough with that, already," he muttered, hitting the buttons on his control so hard the tiny gears began to rattle.
"Old man Sasuke, it doesn't really roll off the tongue," Naruto snorted and Sasuke aimed a sightless kick in Naruto's direction, risking the forfeit of his mission.
"Shut it."
"Will you be alright though?" Naruto quizzed and Sasuke frowned.
"Huh?"
"With Shikadai, I mean? You've already got Itachi swooping around the place like The Methadone Ghost of Addiction Past, do you really need a kid on top of that?" Naruto mused and Sasuke's frown deepened.
"How difficult can they be? Just give them cake and Power Puff Girls and watch them go," he shrugged. He saw out of the corner of his eye Naruto's jaw drop.
"Cake and Power Puff Girls, really, Sasuke?" He asked incredulously, "I mean, really? You're gonna let Professor Utonium and a bowl of Betty Crocker batter mix, babysit your best friend's son?" He shook his head in astonishment. "Wow."
"Well, when you put it like that it doesn't sound great," Sasuke mumbled, shifting uncomfortably.
"No, Sasuke, because it isn't great," Naruto pointed out as though this much were obvious.
"Oh, whatever, I'll figure it out," Sasuke shrugged Naruto off.
They continued to play until eventually…
"You beat me!" Sasuke gasped in astonishment, Naruto had never ever beaten him.
"Yup," Naruto leant back looking smug.
"You actually beat me!" Sasuke was rigid with shock, "How!?"
"You know how you say you always win because you've got so much control…Well, you just lost because you overthought literally everything," Naruto grinned.
Sasuke was inexplicably furious, much angrier than he should've been and he threw his controller down on the floor. Naruto whistled, watching Sasuke's tantrum unfold.
"Gamer rage," he observed and Sasuke threw him a dirty look. "Wanna play again?" Naruto offered and Sasuke wrinkled his nose petulantly.
"No, thank you," he snapped waspishly.
"Very sour of you," Naruto laughed, stretching out a leg and lightly kicking Sasuke. He caught Naruto's ankle deftly and held it.
"Itachi never called me," he said slowly and Naruto tilted his head to one side. "This morning," Sasuke looked up at Naruto. He'd been so caught up in Naruto, so embroiled in his own little Oxford world, that he'd forgotten all about his brother. "Itachi never called me once he got to the clinic."
Naruto gazed at Sasuke, going pale…
DAMN DAMN DAMN! Hold out cliffhanger! Hope you enjoyed huns, please review x