Disclaimer: I don't own nor have I contributed to Naruto in any way! Nope! None!
2nd Disclaimer: The songs and lyrics mention in this fic do not belong to me! Nu-uh! The songs in this chapter are: "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down
Sky-eyed Kitsune and Gomi-kun blab & Updates
Sky-eyed Kitsune: Hellooo lovely reviewers!
Gomi-kun: Hi.
Sky-eyed Kitsune: Chapter eleven already! Zomg! –swoons—
Gomi-kun: --rolls eyes—
Sky-eyed Kitsune: For those of you thinking: "Omg, Sasuke has so many mood swings!" just bear with me please! He's never been in love before, and he struggling with which way he swings! Please give him time! Itachi is figuring this "love" thing out too, but in more of an inconspicuous manner, the same with Gaara.
Reviewer Replies:
ZOMG, SOOO MANY! TOO MANY TO REPLY TO ONE BY ONE! O.o SO I'LL JUST THANK YOU ALL AND FLING POCKY EVERYWHERE!!! XD
IMPORTANT CRAP!!!
Here's who you wanted to see Naru dance with!
Gaara: 3
Itachi: 8
Sai: 1
Sasuke: 3
YES, THE DANCE IS IN THE NEXT CHAPPIE, ZOMG! POLLS FOR DANCE CLOSED! AND GAARA AND SASUKE WILL HAVE A FACEOFF! WHOEVER WINS DEPENDS ON MY MOOD! XD
HEART POINT TALLY!
O Beating Heart Points (good!)
X Broken Heart Points (bad!)
Gaara: OO
Itachi: OOO
Neji: OOOOOOO
Sai: --
Sasuke: XOO
Itachi is catching up! Look out! (I'll introduce Sai soon…)
Chapter Dedication:
All my reviewers!!! --huggles everyone!--
Chapter 11: Figuring this Out...Sort Of
"I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind."
"I left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time."
Sasuke and Naruto entered their dorm, muddy, wet and freezing.
Sasuke glanced at the time.
It was 3:30.
He was actually thankful that Deidara had blown up the art room. Sasuke didn't know if he could have handled another two hours of classes.
Cyclone greeted the duo, mewing up at "mommy" and "daddy" lovingly.
Sasuke leaned down and pet the kitten, and it purred at Sasuke's gentle touch.
"I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon."
"I feel there's nothin' I can do. Yea..."
Naruto shook himself out, water droplets splashing everywhere, and Sasuke couldn't help but laugh a bit when he looked up at Naruto.
Naruto's hair had fluffed out like an animal's fur would after a bath, and with the accompaniment of his black whisker-like scars, Sasuke thought he looked like a drenched fox.
Naruto pouted at Sasuke.
"Teme," he said.
"Dobe," Sasuke replied.
"I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon."
The two went to their room, and Sasuke noticed that his radio was on.
After all I knew it had to be something to do with you."
"What's up with your alarm Teme?" Naruto asked, removing his soaked suit's jacket.
"I set it for 7:30 this morning, but I didn't hear it go off because somebody woke up at 5:30 am this morning," Sasuke said, sending Naruto a halfhearted glare.
Naruto smirked as he threw his jacket into the dirty clothes bin by his bed.
Sasuke moved to turn the radio off, when Naruto said,
"Leave it on Teme. I like this song. I did a remix of this with my band."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Band?" he asked, and Naruto paused as he was undoing his shirt.
Shit. If anyone else knew he would be suffocated by even MORE fanboys.
"J-just forget it," Naruto said as he continued to remove his shirt, his pants following shortly after until he was clad in his boxers.
"I really don't mind what happens now and then as long as you'll be my friend at the end."
Sasuke melted a bit at the sight of the topless blonde once again, and he watched as he headed for the bathroom. He heard the running water start as Naruto returned and dug through his drawers.
"If I go crazy them will you still call me Superman? If I'm alive and well, will you be there holding my hand?"
"Dobe, what're you doing?" Sasuke asked as he removed his clothing as well until he was left in his black boxers with the symbol of a red fan on one side.
"Taking a shower," Naruto answered as he grabbed a new pair of pants and jeans. He glanced at Sasuke and felt his heart race increase at the sight of the toned chest and moonlight pale skin.
"Oh no you're not Dobe," Sasuke said as he too grabbed some new clothing.
"I am."
"Teme! I'm taking a shower, you're not! Deal with it!" Naruto said as he made a beeline for the bathroom, Sasuke up to speed next to him.
They both reached the door frame at the same time, trying to shove each other to get through it to the bathroom.
"Move it Dobe!" Sasuke said, pushing Naruto with his elbow.
"You move it Teme!" Naruto shouted, shoving Sasuke back.
Finally the two managed to collapse into the tiled room.
They stood up and glared at each other, their arms crossed in irritation.
"Out, Teme!" Naruto demanded.
"No way Dobe," Sasuke hissed back. "I'm the one taking the shower!"
"Are not!"
"Are too."
"Are not!"
"Are too."
"Bastard!"
"Hn."
"ARGH!!!" Naruto cried, tackling the Uchiha. He struggled to shove Sasuke towards the door, and Sasuke pushed back in the opposite direction.
Sasuke managed to shove Naruto back towards the shower, when Naruto had a sudden burst of strength and flung the Uchiha forward.
Sasuke redirected the force at Naruto, and they both went tumbling into the shower.
"Dobe!" Sasuke spat.
"Teme!" Naruto hissed.
"Idiot!"
"Bastard!"
Sasuke initiated a glaring contest, and Naruto avidly participated, unfaltering under Sasuke's defiant stare.
After a little while, they both ended up turning away from each other.
The water hit their skin as they both sat there silently in the large shower until Sasuke sighed and stood up.
"Ok Dobe," he said, a bit more cooled off now. "Since neither of us is leaving and we're both already in here and wet, we're going to share the shower. We're both equally cold and muddy, so we'll just have to keep on our boxers and shower together. Deal?"
Naruto blinked.
That sounded incredibly logical.
Naruto nodded, and Sasuke reached for his bottle of dark blue shampoo from the shower rack.
"I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman might. Kryptonite."
Naruto watched in amazement as the water droplets rolled of the brunette's pallid skin, hugging to every curve and dip of muscle etched in the raven's body.
Sasuke looked over to Naruto as he lathered the shampoo in his hair, and the blonde turned his head away, blushing.
"Dobe," Sasuke said. "Why aren't you washing yourself?"
Naruto half pouted and half glared at Sasuke.
"Maybe I just don't feel like it now, eh Teme?" Naruto snapped.
"Hn," Sasuke scoffed as he rinsed his hair, and Naruto watched as the water spilled down the Uchiha's graceful back and defined shoulders, and before he could stop himself, he reached out and brushed his fingers against the delicate skin.
Sasuke shivered as slender fingers grazed down his back so soothingly and carefully that he closed his eyes and leaned into the touch as the fingers trailed back up again.
Sasuke couldn't help but hum a little in pleasure, when suddenly he stopped. Who was touching him? Naruto? Why???
"You called me strong, you called me weak, but still your secrets I will keep."
"Dobe," Sasuke said, and the lovely fingers were gone from his skin. Sasuke ignored his inner pouting and continued.
"What the hell did you just do?" Sasuke tried so hard to make it sound like he hadn't enjoyed it.
"Hmph." Apparently it worked.
"I just noticed that you had really pale skin, bastard!" Naruto said. "You should get out in the sun more often. Like go out and surf, y'know?"
"Dobe. I don't surf," Sasuke replied, and Naruto looked at him, mouth agape.
"Ok Uchiha. You and me. Sunday. The beach. I'm going to teach you how to surf so that maybe you'll look less like the living dead."
"Hn."
"You took for granted all the times I never let you down..."
Sasuke reached for his body wash and noticed that Naruto still hadn't started wash himself.
"What's wrong with you? Do you not know the meaning of the word 'clean'?"
Naruto glared at Sasuke as he swiped the shampoo bottle, and Sasuke's eyes widened a bit. In the instant Naruto had had to reach over him for the bottle, the Uchiha had gotten a much better glimpse of the scar across the blonde's back.
It looked so recent. When had he been in that fire?
"Dobe," Sasuke said as Naruto's hair became a mess of bubbles.
"What?"
"When was that fire?"
Naruto paused in his cleaning to look at Sasuke, searching for any hint of scorn in his eyes.
He found none.
"Nine years ago," Naruto said as he continued again. "I was eight."
"Oh."
It was silent for a moment before Naruto spoke again.
"An arsonist called Kyuubi set my house on fire. My parents died getting me out of it. I have the scars on my face and back as souvenirs."
Sasuke looked to the ground.
"Did they…ever catch Kyuubi?" he asked softly.
"Sort of," Naruto said. "He set a hotel on fire but got trapped on one of the floors and died in it."
"I'm sorry."
Naruto looked at Sasuke hard. His eyes looked so sad…
"It must be hard sometimes…to know that those scars are the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning."
Sasuke cupped Naruto's face in his hands gently and moved his fingers up to softly brush over the whisker-like scars on his face.
"Sometimes," Naruto breathed, his eyes locked with Sasuke's yet again. "But sometimes it makes me happy."
"What?" Sasuke said, and Naruto nodded.
"It reminds me of my parents' sacrifice for me. They must have really loved me to risk their lives to save me."
"Must have? You mean, they did?"
"No. After the fire my mind went into a relapse and I lost all memory of my life before the fire. I don't remember my parents…"
Naruto lifted his hands up to look at them as Sasuke released his face and the water rushed over his tan skin.
"I wonder if I ever went places with them, or if I act like them now. Even if I look like them. That burned picture next to my alarm clock is the only proof I have to show myself that they existed."
Sasuke pulled Naruto into him suddenly, their bodies close as the hot water sprayed over them.
"Naruto…I'm sorry," he breathed. "I can't compare to that kind of pain. My parents are both alive and well off, and even though I hate him, I have a brother too. I…I can't imagine the pain you feel."
Sasuke pulled away and Naruto smiled at him.
Sasuke's eyes widened.
A real smile, not a fake one, from the blonde angel. One just for him and him alone.
Sasuke felt himself smile back for the first time in an eternity.
"Dobe," Sasuke said, reaching up to Naruto's golden locks. "You've still got shampoo in your hair."
Naruto watched Sasuke's serene face as he combed his fingers through Naruto's hair, helping the shampoo to rinse from his mane. Naruto closed his eyes under the gentle caress of Sasuke's fingers.
"Dobe?" Sasuke said.
"Mm?" Naruto replied.
"Why are your eyes closed?"
"Cause that feels good teme! Haven't you ever had someone wash your hair before?"
"Why would I let someone touch my hair when I can wash it myself?"
"Cause it's nice!"
"Hn."
"It is!"
"Dobe."
Naruto smacked Sasuke's hands away from his hair, and he grabbed the conditioner bottle and smoothed it through Sasuke's own hair before he had a chance to protest.
Sasuke was about to reach up and slap Naruto's hands back from him, when he stopped them in midair, the massage of Naruto's fingers on his scalp enough to drive him insane with pleasure.
Sasuke could help but close his eyes and hum, and Naruto chuckled.
"See Teme? Doesn't that feel good?"
"Mff…Dobe," Sasuke managed to get out.
"Ne, Naruto?"
"Hm?"
"How did you afford to go here? I mean…you said your parents are gone, right?" Sasuke felt a pang of guilt as he asked the question, but Naruto didn't seem to be fazed.
-------------------------------------------------------------T-16--------------------------------------------------
"Well after my parents died I was sent to the orphanage and stayed there a couple months before my guardian, Iruka, adopted me."
""Is he the man with the scar across his nose and the brown hair in that picture?"
"Yea. He had me take the SAT test and sent it to this school. I'm here on a scholarship."
"Impressive dobe. Who are the other people in those pictures?"
"The other pictures are of me and my band-" Naruto caught his breath and shook his head. "F-friends! I mean friends!"
Sasuke opened his eyes to look at Naruto.
"You obviously have a band dobe, so just spit it out," he said.
Naruto stopped washing Sasuke's hair and pulled him forward by his wrist until the raven was under the main part of the water spurting from the shower head, rinsing his hair. Naruto kept his hands entwined in Sasuke's black locks, his eyes distant.
"I'm kind of afraid to, Sasuke," Naruto said, and Sasuke's eyes widened a bit at the softness of his voice.
"If I do, this place will just become like my old school, and I'll never get a moment's peace. I…can't do that."
Naruto let out a small yelp as Sasuke pushed him up against the tile wall of the shower, pinning him against it by his wrists.
"Dobe, just tell me!" Sasuke said. "I don't care about some stupid band, so it's not going to make me see you in the way you're afraid of!"
"Teme!" Naruto growled. "No!"
"Tell me!"
"No!"
"Idiot!"
"Bastard!"
"Dobe!"
Naruto never got his last insult out as he suddenly found a pair of lips pressed against his own, and his eyes widened.
Sasuke was…kissing him again!? Why did he keep doing this!? Then Naruto's mind flicked back to what the raven had said to him during their kiss in the rain.
"Because, I…I don't know. You make me do some weird things, Naruto."
"Please don't ask, Naruto. Even I don't know. But I hope I will soon…"
Naruto wondered briefly what it was that made Sasuke act so strangely around him, before he gasped as the raven requested entrance to his mouth.
Naruto again gave this a passing thought, and he unhinged his mouth to let Sasuke's tongue creep in.
Naruto shivered as Sasuke pressed his body a bit closer to his own as he deepened the kiss, scathing their skin against each other.
Sasuke let go of Naruto's wrists as he settled his hands on his waist, and Naruto placed his hands on Sasuke's shoulders.
Naruto couldn't help but groan when Sasuke rubbed his tongue against the underside of his own, and he felt the need to taste more of Sasuke, more of that first snowflake.
Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck and dipped his head back to get a better angle into the raven's mouth.
Suddenly a loud crackling sound erupted from the school hallways and the speakers in the dorms. Sasuke and Naruto parted and stared at each other's flushed faces as they listened, never unlocking their eyes.
------------------------------------------------T-16 OVER------------------------------------------
"Attention students!"
Naruto's face scrunched up in a bit of confusion. That was not Tsunade's voice, but some guy's!
"An important announcement!" the voice said again, and he took a dramatic pause before shouting,
"TOBI IS A GOOD BOY!!!!!!!"
Sasuke face-palmed and Naruto cocked his head to one side.
"Tobi!" said another voice from the loudspeaker, another young man's but this time familiar to Naruto.
"I-Itachi!?" the other male, supposedly named Tobi, said.
"Give me the intercom. NOW," Itachi said, and Naruto snickered at the irritation clearly evident in his voice.
"B-b-but Tobi is a good boy!"
"GIVE ME THE DAMN MICROPHONE!"
There was a light scuffle of spark-like noises and crackling before the speakers went dead.
Naruto and Sasuke stayed silent, just blinking at each other, until Naruto cracked a grin and started laughing softly.
Sasuke was a bit amazed. He had always been the one to laugh the latest when it came to roommates, but he had at least chuckled WAY before Naruto had, and now finally, the dobe was laughing? And at something so…stupid?"
"So, you actually can laugh," Sasuke teased as Naruto began to giggle a bit louder.
"T-Teme!" Naruto said, his laughter growing louder, until he couldn't contain it, and he slipped down the shower wall, laughing his head off.
Sasuke decided he liked Naruto's laugh. It was loud and boisterous, and if anyone else was like that he would have hated it…but this seemed to fit Naruto.
Sasuke began to laugh a bit himself as Naruto had trouble breathing in between his spurts of laughter and tears came to the corner of his eyes.
"Dobe, you're laughing at that? That was so idiotic," Sasuke said, but laughed a bit louder too nonetheless.
"T-that's the point, haha!" Naruto gasped. "It's so stupid it's funny!!! S-Sasuke, you're laughing to, hahaha!"
Sasuke was also laughing loudly now, and dropped to the floor of the shower as well.
"D-dobe, hahaha!" Sasuke cried. "I-I'm laughing at your face, hahaha! Y-you look so funny!!!"
Sasuke and Naruto laughed for a while until their sides hurt and they had to stop.
Catching his breath, Sasuke got up and turned off the shower water. Naruto stood, gasping for breath as well, and he exited the shower.
"Hey teme, close your eyes," Naruto said.
"What?"
"Just do it."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Fine."
Sasuke heard some shuffling and the sound of a zipper.
"Ok," Naruto said, and Sasuke opened his eyes…but he wished he hadn't.
Naruto held his wet boxers in one hand, a small white towel around his waist; the only thing covering his naked sun-kissed body.
Naruto's eyes suddenly widened and he rushed up to Sasuke.
"No, no, no…don't get close, don't get close…" Sasuke pleaded in his mind, but Naruto kept coming.
"Teme! Your nose is bleeding!" Naruto said, and Sasuke was snapped out of his mantra.
"Wha-"
Naruto grabbed a few tissues from the box on the sink counter and stuffed them to Sasuke's noise.
"Geez teme! That's a lot of blood!" Naruto said, keeping the thin pieces of white pressed up firmly against Sasuke's nose.
"Let go dobe," Sasuke said nasally as his cheeks began to flush with embarrassment.
"He he, you sound funny Sasuke," Naruto said, grinning beautifully, but Sasuke was too humiliated to enjoy the sight.
"Oh shuddup," Sasuke said as he removed Naruto's hands from the tissues, holding them to his nose by himself.
There was a knock, and Naruto left the bathroom, letting out a flush of steam, as he answered the door, completely forgetting he was wearing only a towel.
Garra rapped his white knuckles against a burled walnut door and fought to keep a blush down and his heart from thumping loudly in his chest.
He was just inviting Uzumaki to the move night in his dorm! (Which Lee threw every week to Gaara's extreme annoyance.) Why did the blonde make him feel so nervous?
Gaara stood up straight as the door opened, and this time he REALLY had to fight down the red from shooting up his face.
There stood Naruto in all his glory, his wet air falling to brushing against his shoulders as crystal beads of water fell down his sun-kissed skin, clinging loving to it. They ran over his whisker-like scars, his sky-blue eyes illuminating against the water droplets. Naruto was thin and lithe with a firm chest and slightly muscular arms, and lean and practiced legs. In short, Naruto's body was AMAZING.
Gaara pulled at his collar, feeling his body temperature rise by 200 degrees.
"Hi Gaara," Naruto said casually. "What's up?"
"Would you like to come to movie night in my dorm…would you like to come to movie night in my dorm…that's all you have to say and then you can run away!" Gaara repeated to himself. He swallowed hard and mentally smacked himself, his lines prepared and ready to be delivered. Gaara took a deep breath and said,
"Dhewplfhowe!"
Naruto titled his head to one side cutely.
"…huh?" he said. Gaara smacked a hand to his forehead mentally, and his blush rose to the tips of his already crimson locks.
"Dobe!"
Gaara regained his mental consciousness as he saw Sasuke appear in the doorframe. His wet raven hair fell loose around his shoulders akin to Naruto's hair at the moment, a slight brush of pink across the bridge of his nose from the heat of the shower. His onyx eyes danced to the contrast to his pale ashen skin. He wore a pair of ripped black jeans that hung loose around his hips and a towel was slacked around his neck, his strong chest bare.
Naruto turned to look at him, and now it was his turn to blush.
"S-s-s-" he stuttered, trying to get out the name of the beautiful person behind him.
"Dobe, put some clothes on!" Sasuke said. Naruto looked down at himself, and after a cross between and yelp and a gasp, he disappeared back inside the dorm, cursing.
Sasuke's eyes met Gaara's, midnight black clashing with light emerald green, and they engaged in a glaring contest.
"Sabaku," Sasuke spat.
"Uchiha," Gaara hissed.
"Sorry!" Naruto said as he appeared back in the doorframe next to Sasuke. "What did you want to ask?"
Gaara smirked, his nervousness gone. He saw that glint in the Uchiha's eyes when Naruto entered the atmosphere. He wasn't fooled; the Uchiha had finally found someone that he liked a lot. Well, Gaara was going to put on a little show for him.
"Naruto, Lee is having movie night in my dorm room tonight at 8. Would you like to come? Anyone who wants to come is invited," Gaara said smoothly, never missing a beat.
Sasuke fumed a bit at the thought of Naruto spending the evening with Sabaku. Wait…why did he care? Sure, he hated Gaara, but why did he feel so…possessive? Sasuke felt his stomach curl and realized that it was that weird feeling again that made him do weird things…that he couldn't explain.
"Really? What're you guys watching?"
Sasuke was pulled out of his inner conflict by Naruto's question. Well, whatever was going on with him, he would jump at ANY chance to sabotage Gaara's plans!
"CHAINSAW IV," Gaara replied, and Naruto thought for a moment.
Hadn't he seen that movie? But…then why didn't he remember it? A vision of long brown hair and crystal eyes assaulted Naruto's mind, and he blushed a bit at the memory. Oh yea…had had been too busy making out with Neji. But he really did want to see it.
Naruto opened his mouth to answer when he felt a warm press against his back. And Naruto looked down to see Sasuke's arm wrapped around his waist possessively.
"He can't," Sasuke said sternly.
"Why?" Gaara and Naruto both asked simultaneously.
"Because…" Sasuke took three seconds to think. "Naruto and I are already watching a movie in OUR dorm."
"Really?" Gaara and Naruto asked together again.
"Yes, really," Sasuke said forcefully, and slammed the door in Gaara's face.
Gaara growled in his throat as he turned to leave back down the hall, plotting all the way.
"Teme!" Naruto shouted as Sasuke dragged him back into the room.
"We never planned on watching a movie!"
Naruto followed Sasuke as he made his way to their room. He watched as Sasuke slipped on a long-sleeved dark blue tee-shirt, matching well with his ripped black jeans.
Naruto now also reached into his suitcase and slipped on a black shirt with the words "FIGHT OR DIE" written on it in white. He left his jeans the way they were- dark blue and slit three times at each knee as if they had been swiped by claws, and a silver chain hung off to the right side.
Sasuke turned back to Naruto, who resumed his fuming.
"We didn't plan a movie! You totally made that up and slammed the door in Gaara's face!" he ranted. "What's up with you teme!?"
"Hn," Sasuke said as he hopped onto his bed and grabbed his widescreen laptop, placing it in his lap as he booted it up. Naruto continued pacing and flailing his arms around in a distressed manner.
"Gods, are you a bastard to everyone?! I mean c'mon! Gaara's just trying to be my friend, and all the sudden-hey!"
Naruto was cut off as Sasuke grabbed his slender wrist when he walked by and pulled him onto the bed next him.
Naruto's head hit Sasuke's shoulder, and he blushed.
"Here's what I have right now, but you can rent whatever you want from online," Sasuke said as he tilted his laptop in the blonde's direction.
Naruto's eyes scanned the page, full of movie titles.
"Really?" Naruto asked, looking up at Sasuke from his position. "I can pick?"
Sasuke nodded and Naruto smiled.
"I guess this makes up for the Gaara thing," he said, and he pointed at the laptop screen.
"Can we watch that one?" he asked.
Sasuke clicked on the movie title.
"'The Uninvited'?" he asked, reading the title aloud. "Dobe, isn't that too scary for you?"
"Shut up teme!" Naruto said, punching Sasuke's side lightly.
"Besides, you should be the one worrying. If you get freaked out we can't have you getting any paler, can we?"
Sasuke gave Naruto a thwack over the head.
Zomg, what will happen???
Sky-eyed Kitsune and Gomi-kun