A.N.- Hello again! I was glad to hear that people enjoyed Naruto's birthday party in the last chapter, but it's time to get serious... YAY! Thank you to those who have fav/followed this story! I never expect so many people to enjoy my writing!
I'd like to once again say thank you to those of you who take the time to leave reviews. They really mean a lot to me and make my day. I've had someone trolling me for the past few months and every time I post a new chapter they are the very first one to comment (just on the first chapter since they aren't reading this) and often say mean things, like for me to kill myself. It's honestly pretty annoying and I'm glad this site allow authors to delete reviews because people don't need to see that kind of crap. If anyone else is being plagued by similar douche baggery, then please don't let their words hurt you since that's their goal. So yeah, thank you reviewers!
Please R&R and Enjoy!
That Time I Went Down Fighting
14. Catching the Fever
Naruto sighed as he looked up at the clear blue sky. He had woken mid-morning, once again glad that he had some of his chakra so he didn't have a hangover (it had kicked in the night before getting the poisonous liquid out of his system), and quietly exited his and Sasuke's room to sit out in the garden to enjoy the crisp morning air.
He was resting his back against a tall tree, feeling the dew from the slightly damp grass chill his bottom through his pants. He didn't mind though, it was too nice of a morning to go back inside. It looked like it was actually going to be warm today too, so he would have to bring his book outside to enjoy it while it lasted.
Naruto's mind began to drift as he relaxed. He couldn't help but wonder what his family was doing. Were they alright? He hoped they weren't doing anything dangerous to try to find him. Man, he felt so pathetic just sitting here. How could he have let this happen? He had been in captivity for a month and a half and he had barely done anything to try to escape. It was true that the suppression collar prevented him from physically leaving (he couldn't even move that far from the remote without getting shocked for goodness sake!) and he had gotten in contact with Neji and asked Temari about having his collar altered, but it still didn't feel like enough.
He had been racking his brain for six weeks and he hadn't come up with any new ideas in how to escape his predicament. Naruto took a deep breath, trying to calm down before his stress got to him again.
'At least I found Temari through all this,' he mused. Feeling a little better, he began to look at other bright sides about his situation. 'The Teme's not so bad either I guess…' Even though he didn't really like to admit it, the youngest Uchiha was starting to grow on him. He was a moody bastard the majority of the time, but he had changed over the last week and Naruto started enjoying his company. Maybe he was finally beginning to see what Temari saw in the Uchiha all along.
Speaking of the bastard, he would probably be waking up with a hangover again. It was still early enough that the servants probably hadn't brought breakfast, so maybe Naruto would order him food again as a thank you for yesterday's party. He could tell that the raven hadn't wanted to go, he looked really tired, but he had gone anyway and Naruto was thankful for that.
Nodding to himself, Naruto stood and brushed off the seat of his pants and moved to the sliding glass door. He may as well get his book while he was at it.
After opening the door he pulled the curtain out of his way so he could step through. A beam of light filled the otherwise dark room. Naruto was about to let the curtain fall back into place when something caught his attention, causing him to freeze.
Lying on the tatami floor, just within the beam of light was a pale hand. Naruto frowned and yanked the curtains open wider so the whole room brightened. His eyes widened when he realized the hand belonged to Sasuke who was currently sprawled on the floor.
"Teme?" Naruto questioned as he slowly approached the raven. What the hell happened to him? He hadn't thought Sasuke had had that much to drink last night. He received no answer from the Uchiha, but as he got closer to Sasuke he noticed the he was shivering. "Sasuke!" he cried out in alarm as he rushed to the Uchiha's side and fell to his knees to turn the human onto his back.
In the full light of day Naruto finally got a good look at the raven. Sasuke's cheeks were flushed a bright red, his skin looked clammy, he was shivering, and even in his sleep he was panting. A slight look of pain was on his otherwise peaceful face.
Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shoulders and shook him to try to wake him. "Come on, bastard, wake up!" Naruto began to panic when the only response he got from the Uchiha was his head lolling to the side due to Naruto's shaking. Naruto moved his hand to Sasuke's forehead and quickly pulled his hand away. Sasuke felt like he was on fire.
"Ok," Naruto breathed and looked around the room for help, "It's ok. Everything will be ok." Finding nothing that would be of any use, Naruto let out a small frustrated whine which was quickly cut off when a thought hit him. "Tsunade!"
He bolted to his feet and scrambled towards the door. Throwing the door open with a loud bang, Naruto ran down the hall hoping that he could remember the way to the infirmary he'd awoken in so many weeks ago. He just prayed that she was actually there.
Skidding around a corner, Naruto's steps faltered as a thought hit him. The collar hadn't activated. Why hadn't it activated with him this far from the remote? 'That bastard!' he thought in irritation. Why the hell hadn't Sasuke told him he could move within the castle without the need of the remote? That asshole!
The urge to turn around and march right back to his room to strangle Sasuke washed over the fox, but he quickly pushed the feeling aside when he remembered the state that jackass was currently in. 'Later,' he promised as he picked up his pace again.
Bursting into the medical room Naruto was relieved to see the blond doctor sitting at a desk grinding some plants up into a stone bowl. "Granny!" he cried, scaring the older woman out of her seat, "Come quick!"
Tsunade looked at the panicked male and smacked him upside the head in irritation. "Calm down brat and tell me what's the matter."
Naruto rubbed the back of his aching head and took a calming breath, "Teme won't wake up. I think he's sick. I didn't know what else to do."
Tsunade frowned and grabbed her medical bag. It took Naruto a moment to realize that she had left the room. He quickly followed behind her.
It only took a few minutes to get back to the bedroom with Naruto and Tsunade rushing their steps. Tsunade knelt next to Sasuke's still form as soon as she entered the room, checking his vitals. Naruto couldn't help but hover worriedly behind her, noticing that the Uchiha hadn't moved since he left.
Naruto wasn't used to illness. It was very rare that Jinchūriki got ill since their chakra kept their immune system strong, and when they did get sick it was either sniffles from allergies or a rare deadly disease because of a mutation within their blood (but those Jinchūriki often stayed isolated within their homes so Naruto had no contact with them). It was true that growing up, the human kids would occasionally come to school with mild colds, but anything more than that and their parents would keep them home. Personally, Naruto had never been sick and he couldn't even remember the last time Iruka had had a cold (the human had an extremely strong immune system).
Naruto bit his lip as he watched the doctor administer a drug with a syringe into Sasuke's forearm.
"Help me get him up," Tsunade ordered as she replaced the bottle of acetaminophen back into her bag. Naruto nodded and picked Sasuke's limp body up to move him to his bed.
"Will he be okay?" he finally asked once the Uchiha was tucked comfortably into bed.
Tsunade sighed and cracked her neck, "Yeah, don't worry so much. Unfortunately this is pretty normal for this dumb brat." At Naruto's questioning eyebrow raise, Tsunade continued, "He's always had a weak immune system, even as a kid. So that, plus his poor circulation and all the damn stress he's always under causes him to get sick often. This fever is pretty bad though."
She looked down at the sleeping teen whose breathing had started to even out now that the medication began to kick in. "You did a good job coming to me. If you had waited longer then his brain would have fried like an egg," the doctor gave a small smile and looked up to the blond, only to notice him still staring at the comatose patient.
Naruto absently nodded his head when Tsunade told him to keep Sasuke in bed for the next few days and to keep him hydrated. She would inform the staff to bring him soup and other warm liquids, as well as tell Fugaku that Sasuke was under doctor's orders to not do any work for the next few days. Naruto couldn't help but wonder how much the older Uchiha would care about the doctor's orders or his son's condition.
"I gave him something to help lower the temperature and help with any pain he may be in, but I'll leave some pills in case he needs them. He can take them every four hours if needed, but that dose I gave him should last a while. Call for me if he gets any worse," Tsunade instructed Naruto before turning and exiting the room.
Naruto heard the door shut behind the doctor, but remained where he was for a few minutes longer. Now that the raven was settled, Naruto began to wonder why he had freaked out so badly. Sure he wasn't used to illness, and he and Sasuke had become…well not really friends, but friendlier towards each other in their time spent together, and it was true that the young Uchiha was the only person available for Naruto to talk to. Still, that was no reason for Naruto to panic the way he had.
Sighing, Naruto decided that he didn't want to think about this any longer, so he moved around Sasuke's bed and climbed onto his small cot to read his book. It looked like 'outside time' would have to be put on hold.
A low groan met Naruto's ears causing him to look up from his reading. He looked over to see Sasuke's face scrunch up a little before his eyes fluttered open. Naruto watched as the Uchiha's dark eyes moved around trying to get his bearings before they closed again. Another groan left Sasuke's pale lips before Naruto set his book down and got up to lean over the sick man.
"How are you feeling?" Naruto questioned softly. He winced when his voice startled Sasuke back to wakefulness.
"Wha' happened?" Sasuke mumbled as his eyes tried to focus on the ball of blond sunlight hovering over him. All he could remember was getting up with a blistering headache to stumble to the bathroom half asleep, but he couldn't remember making it back to bed after relieving himself.
Naruto sighed in relief when the raven finally answered him after so many hours of silence. "You collapsed with a heavy fever and have been unconscious for about five hours. Granny Tsunade said your weak immune system and stress got you sick."
Sasuke glared at the blond in annoyance, "'m not weak," he mumbled.
Naruto couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips, because the glare the Uchiha was directing at him was the most pathetic thing he had ever seen. Not only was Sasuke's face still flushed, but his hair was wild from sleep. There was also the fact that he still seemed to be half asleep and lacked the ability to talk clearly with his brain muddled. His laughter only annoyed the Uchiha further, making his glare look even more like a pout.
"Shuttup, Dobe," Sasuke grumbled. He felt terrible. Sasuke couldn't help but think that a hangover felt better than this. At least with a hangover he didn't feel so hot. A chill ran through his body making him shiver.
Naruto noticed the raven's shivering and frowned in concern, "You okay?"
"Cold," the Uchiha responded, snuggling deeper into his blankets.
"I think there's extra blankets in the closet," Naruto got up and moved to the closet in search of said blankets. He didn't know how Sasuke could possibly be cold, he felt like he was a million degrees when Naruto had last checked his forehead. But then again, the fox didn't know much about fevers or human illnesses. Grabbing an armful of blankets, Naruto returned to the ill Uchiha.
"Want some water?" Naruto asked once he had laid the blankets out on the bed.
Sasuke nodded, his throat did feel really dry and he was pretty sure his lips were beginning to crack. He didn't know why the blond was being so caring towards him, but he wasn't going to complain. If Naruto wanted to play nurse than Sasuke wasn't going to stop him; in fact, if Sasuke's brain wasn't currently fried mush he would be having fantasies about the blond in a sexy nurse's costume.
Naruto brought a glass of water over to his patient and waited for him to sit up. He frowned when Sasuke tried to sit up only to groan, clutch his head, and fall back in bed again, lightly panting with his eyes clenched shut. Setting the glass on the bedside table, Naruto placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "Here, let me help you."
"No," Sasuke brushed Naruto's hand off, not opening his eyes against the pounding in his head, "I can do it myself."
"Stop being so stubborn, Teme!" Naruto shouted in annoyance. Seeing Sasuke cringe, he realized he probably shouldn't be yelling around him at the moment. "Sorry," he sighed sheepishly, "just, stop being such a baby and let me help you."
Sasuke grit his teeth together. He wasn't being a baby… "Fine," he ground out through clenched teeth.
Naruto smiled in triumph and helped the sulking man into sitting position, fluffing his pillows behind him. Sasuke accepted the water with a small nod of thanks and began to take sips of it.
Naruto nodded and went back to sitting on his cot. A few minutes passed with Sasuke drinking and Naruto silently reading. When Naruto finally looked up from his book he noticed that the Uchiha was once again asleep. Sighing, Naruto stood and took the half empty glass from Sasuke's limp fingers. He then moved some pillows out from behind Sasuke so he was reclining a bit more and tucked the blankets up around his shoulders so he would stay warm.
Hearing a light knock on the door, Naruto moved away from the sleeping Uchiha to answer it in hopes that lunch had arrived.
"And then the main guy crosses this magical bridge and finds himself in the past. He ends up in this one village that is on the brink of war and falls in love with this one chick and she goes back to his own time with him. There's also this witch that's out to destroy the world and this big plot that spans through time. I think it's all based off of an old fairytale or something," Naruto explained happily.
Sasuke had woken up an hour earlier and, having nothing to do, the two boys had started talking. Mainly Naruto needed to have some interaction, but Sasuke responded even though he was still out of it and soon they had a good thing going. They talked about the weather, food (mainly ramen), places they wanted to visit, and were now on literature.
Sasuke looked at the cover of the book he was holding. On it was a woman dressed in a white dress seemingly asleep amongst a garden of flowers. It looked extremely girly to him. Why the blond was reading it was beyond him. "Geeze, Dobe, I asked what it was about, not for you to tell me the whole damn book."
Naruto scoffed, "Shut up, Teme, my description was so freaking vague that I didn't give anything away." A part of Naruto couldn't help but be a little happy that the Uchiha had kept some of his cocky personality through his illness. 'Man, I must be a masochist or something,' Naruto pondered as he looked at the young 's face was still flushed and he was obviously having trouble following some of their conversation, but at least he was trying. Naruto was thankful for that. It was really strange. Sasuke seemed more open than usual. Naruto could only assume it was because he couldn't think straight.
"It still sounds stupid," Sasuke tossed the book back to the blond and laid his head back on his pillows to rest more. Just talking for the past hour had taken a lot out of him and he could feel sleep pulling at him again.
Naruto caught it with a frown and placed it next to him on his cot. "Don't knock it till you try it. You'd probably like it. Fantasy is way better than those text books you have over there," he nodded his head over to the book shelves filled to the brim with said books.
"I already told you-" Sasuke began only to be cut off by Naruto.
"Yeah, yeah. 'Pointless nonsense,' I remember," Naruto quoted the Uchiha's statement from an earlier conversation about genre preference. He waved his hand in dismissal. "My dad always said that reading fiction would promote creative thinking and could help with stuff like art and even fighting," Naruto stated matter-of-factly. It was true too, Naruto was pretty sure that his father had created his '1000 Years of Pain' technique with inspiration from one of his porn books. It was gross to think about, but highly effective.
"Tell me about your family," Sasuke's mumbled words pulled Naruto out of his musing.
The fox's eyes widened in surprise. Sasuke had never asked him anything personal before. "What?" he questioned, not sure if he heard right.
"Your family," Sasuke said, settling himself more comfortably into his blankets, "tell me about them." Seeing Naruto look hesitant, Sasuke sighed, "Come on, Dobe. I'm not going to tell anyone."
Naruto took in Sasuke's half asleep expression and once again thought back to Temari's words. Was Sasuke really a good guy? Could Naruto trust him? Besides, even if he told him anything, would the Uchiha even remember anything once he recovered from his fever? Naruto was usually a pretty good judge of character, so he decided to humor the sick man.
"I have two dads," he began a little hesitantly. "They adopted me when I was born even though they were only fifteen and sixteen. They were students of my birth father and took me in when my parents died."
Sasuke remained silent as he listened to Naruto's story. He was surprised to hear that the blond had two fathers. Did that mean that he was ok with the idea of gay men? He hadn't exactly seemed disgusted by the idea when Sasuke had teased him over the last few weeks, but Naruto hadn't seemed too willing to accept his advances either. It was true that Sasuke hadn't really given the blond a reason to want to accept him, but now he wondered what the other man's feelings on the matter truly were. He hadn't actually thought about it before… Was Naruto even interested in men, or was his decision to get closer to the blond all for nothing?
Naruto bit his lip, wondering how to continue. He normally referred to Kakashi and Iruka as 'Dad' and 'Papa' but that might confuse the Uchiha, so he might have to refer to them by name. He wondered how many Kakashi and Irukas there were in Konoha. Besides, no one would think to look within the Wall for his family, would they? No, he had already made his decision to tell Sasuke.
"Iruka, he's I guess what you would consider the 'mom' of the two of them," Naruto smiled as he thought of the brunet. "He's really kind and can see the love and joy in just about anything. He's the one who taught me how to cook and encouraged me to read a lot when I was younger. He had wanted to be a teacher growing up, but then I came along and he decided to put that dream on hold to look after me."
"Then there's Kakashi. He's a major pervert," Naruto laughed at Sasuke's raised eyebrow. "He's always reading pornos, but he's an amazing martial artist. Well, both my parents are, but Iruka doesn't train anymore. Anyways, Kakashi taught me how to control my chakra and how to fight. He's usually really laid back, but when he's in 'sensei mode' he gets pretty serious even though he doesn't put his book down." Naruto snorted in amusement as a memory surfaced, "This one time while Gaara and I were sparring, Kakashi started reading out loud from one of his book, like really loud. Anyways, as you can imagine, it distracted us. I fell and broke my nose, and Gaara tripped over me and sprained his ankle… Kakashi said that we needed to be ready for anything on the battlefield." He smiled as he thought of the ridiculous tactics his dad used to make him stronger and keep him safe.
"Who's Gaara?" Sasuke questioned, deciding to ignore the bizarre perverted teaching method of Naruto's father.
"Hm?" Naruto had honestly forgotten he was talking to someone who didn't know who he was talking about. He smiled as he thought of his childhood friend, "He's actually Temari's younger brother. We grew up together; that's how Temari and I know each other. He's my best friend in the whole world." He paused in thought, "In fact, you two would probably hate each other because you're so much alike. He has the whole stoic 'approach me and I'll eat you' thing going on too, but you're more of an asshole than he will ever be," Naruto smirked at Sasuke's glare.
The mention of Temari's brother sparked a vague memory in Sasuke's mind but he pushed it aside. Sasuke couldn't help the jealousy that washed through him at seeing the loving smile that was on the blond Jinchūriki's face. He may be thinking irrationally with his fever induced brain, but Sasuke needed to know, so he voiced his question out loud, "Did you sleep with him?"
"Have you slept with Itachi?" Naruto questioned back.
The look of utter disgust that came upon the Uchiha's face was absolutely priceless. Naruto felt extremely satisfied. 'What a stupid question, Teme.'
"Gaara and I grew up as brothers since we were two years old. So no, we have not and will never sleep together. Not that it's any of your business." Naruto raised an eyebrow at the raven's pout. He wondered if the other man even knew that he was pouting. He had to say, he kind of liked this side of Sasuke. He had more facial expressions; it was pretty cute. Wait, not 'cute'… Funny. That was it. It was pretty funny.
"How'd your parents die?" Sasuke asked as his eyelids began to feel heavy.
Naruto shrugged, glad to be taken out of his thoughts, "My father drowned a few months before I was born and my mom died while giving birth to me. It's pretty unusual, but I think she was just heartbroken over losing her husband and refused to use her chakra to heal." Naruto couldn't feel mad at his birth mother for giving up on him, after all he had a great life and he loved his dads. Both his parents had told him stories about his biological parents and told him how much they had loved and wanted him, but alas, he couldn't change the past.
"My mom died too," Sasuke mumbled with his eyes closed.
Naruto looked at Sasuke in surprise. He knew that Mrs. Uchiha had died of course, thanks to Temari, but he wasn't going to tell the raven that. Just as Sasuke never asking anything personal of Naruto, the raven had never shared anything of himself with the blond. Naruto didn't know why, but he didn't want to let this chance pass him by. "Oh?" he questioned, trying to sound nonchalant, even though on the inside his heart was beating like a drum.
"It's my fault she's dead."
It was spoken so quietly that Naruto had almost missed it, but he hadn't and he couldn't help the confused "What?" that escaped his lips as he looked at the pale boy lying in front of him.
Sasuke nodded and Naruto wondered if he was even fully awake and aware of what he was saying. "It was my tenth birthday. I had insisted that we go to the beach. My father had to be in court and Itachi was sick with the flu so they couldn't go. Instead of postponing the trip so we could all go together, I insisted that my mother take me anyway. I was a spoilt brat," Sasuke scoffed. His eyebrows knitted together as he remembered that fateful day long ago. A frown creased his pale lips as he continued, "Since it's such a long way to the nearest ocean, my mother and I traveled by carriage with a few armed guards for protection. We were only about an hour outside of the city when we were attacked."
Naruto frowned, knowing where this story was going and not liking it one bit, but Sasuke wasn't done talking. His voice was strangely devoid of any emotion, even though the expressions on his face spoke differently. Naruto had a funny feeling that Sasuke didn't even remember that Naruto was there, making it feel like he was invading on something private.
"I don't know how many there were, but my mother threw me from the carriage once she realized there was no escape. I landed in a ditch and hit my head on a rock… When I woke up, everyone was dead and the bandits were gone with our carriage and horses. I didn't know what to do, so, like an idiot, I just sat there. A few hours later some passing merchants found me and took me home."
Realizing that Sasuke was done with his story, Naruto frowned, "Sasuke, it's not your fault. You were just a kid; you couldn't have known you would be attacked."
"You're wrong," Sasuke shook his head in denial of the blond's words. He had heard similar words come out of Itachi's mouth over the years, but he knew better. His father had taught him better. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to push away the pain that the memories brought him. Why was he thinking about this again?
Naruto watched the way Sasuke began to curl in on himself, the way his arms wrapped around his torso to claw at his back. Before he knew what he was doing, Naruto grabbed the older man's arms and pinned them to his sides. "Is this why you think it's your fault?" he demanded. "The scars on your back? Did your father give them to you as punishment for your mother's death? Does he still punish you for it?"
Naruto growled in frustration when Sasuke refused to even open his eyes, all he did was turn his head to the side in silent stubbornness. Naruto didn't care that Sasuke's face was still flushed with a fever; he was determined to get answers out of the quiet man. "Dammit, Uchiha, answer me!"
"They're my gift," Sasuke growled out through clenched teeth, finally cracking his tired eyes open to glare at the offending blond.
Naruto looked at the human below him in utter bewilderment. What had he just said? Gift? What the hell did that mean? "What?"
Sasuke huffed in annoyance and tried to shove the Jinchūriki off him, but was unable to in his weakened state. Taking the hint, Naruto removed himself and moved to his cot to await clarification. Sasuke closed his eyes again and took a deep breath, suddenly feeling overheated and dizzy.
"They're my birthday gift," he stated. "I get a new one every year as a reminder to not be so selfish." Sasuke knew he sounded crazy, but it was true. He deserved to have those scars. He had gotten his mother and those guards killed because he was a stubborn brat who had thrown a temper tantrum until he got his way. Those scars he earned; those scars he could forgive his father for. "The other, smaller ones," a small smirk came to his face while thinking of the lashings he had received as punishment for humiliating Fugaku in public, "I pretty much asked for."
Naruto gaped at the human male. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was disgusting. It was insane. Deciding push away the comment about the smaller scars that the young Uchiha had supposedly 'asked for', Naruto clenched his fists as he thought of the raised, longer gashes that ran along the pale boy's back. Uncontrollable anger rolled through Naruto, first towards Sasuke for accepting this type of punishment so willingly, then towards Fugaku who had obviously warped the boy's mind so much over the years to the point of thinking he could have stopped such a tragedy from happening. The whole situation was so unjust that Naruto felt sick to his stomach as rage burned deep within him.
Sasuke's breathing had evened out and Naruto wondered if he had finally fallen asleep. Moving from his cot, Naruto gently placed his palm against the silent human's forehead to check the temperature. It still felt really warm; he would have to force Sasuke to take some medicine once he awoke again. Naruto let his fingers move along Sasuke's temple to brush against his flushed, clammy cheek. He was surprised at how smooth the skin felt against his finger tips, much smoother than his own scarred cheeks. Naruto quickly pulled his hand away when Sasuke inhaled deeply and his eyes fluttered open realizing he had unintentionally fallen asleep.
Hazy obsidian eyes stared into wide blue for a moment before Sasuke finally spoke in a tired sounding voice. "How'd you get these scars?"
Naruto's eyes widened further when he felt fingers lightly brush over his cheek. When had he moved so close? His face was only about a foot away from the Sasuke's and now the sick boy was lightly brushing his thumb over one of the whisker marks that adorned Naruto's cheek while his dark eyes followed the movement. Naruto couldn't stop his cheeks from warming in embarrassment, but for some reason he didn't pull back from Sasuke's touch. A strange fluttering feeling formed in his stomach.
"Um," he laughed nervously and scratched his other cheek, "it's actually a really stupid story."
"Hn," Sasuke dropped his hand and waited the blond to tell him anyway.
Naruto couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at the loss of contact. He frowned at his own thoughts, quickly pushed them aside, and decided to lean back a little bit to put some distance between himself and Sasuke.
"No, seriously it's stupid and not very interesting," Naruto tried again, feeling a little embarrassed. Sasuke looked thoroughly unimpressed. Naruto sighed. "Fine," he grumbled. "When I was three I stole Gaara's favorite teddy bear from him and he attacked me to get it back."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the blond's words and Naruto shrugged.
"He used to have anger issues and apparently his claws were really sharp that day. Anyways, in his attempt to get it back he lunged at me and clawed my face." Naruto held up both his hands like he was grabbing someone's face and drawing his clawless fingers across their cheeks. "Since I didn't have access to my chakra yet I couldn't heal properly, hence the scars. If you look close enough on my left cheek you can see where his pinky left a mark too. It's faint, but it's there." Naruto leaned in close so Sasuke could get a better look at his scars only to find his dark eyes closed again. 'Oh, he must have fallen asleep again,' he mused as he took in the pale man's relaxed features.
"Idiot," Sasuke mumbled, his breath ghosting over Naruto's face due to their closeness.
Naruto glanced down to see the corners of Sasuke's thin lips slightly turned upwards in a very little smile. Not a smirk, but a smile; Naruto could tell the difference due to the lack of arrogance on the man's face. He couldn't help the smile that came to his own lips or small laugh as he pulled away, "Bastard."
The next day found the two teens sitting quietly eating their lunch. Naruto leaned over the food trolley parked in front of his cot, stuffing his face with a warm grilled cheese sandwich. Sasuke reclined against his pillows slowly drinking the broth of his chicken soup, cringing every time he swallowed. He had woken up that morning covered in sweat, his fever having broken sometime during the night, but now he suffered from a terrible sore throat and a bad cough that would often catch him unaware. He was more aware than he had been the previous day, less tired, but feeling just as crappy.
Cringing again with another swallow, Sasuke looked up from his bowl when his bedroom door suddenly burst open to reveal his brother.
Itachi casually strolled into the room dumped a large bag on the end of Sasuke's bed. He ignored the small growl that escaped the blond as he approached. He knew the Jinchūriki was unsettled by him, but that didn't matter at the moment. "I hear you got yourself sick again," he frowned at his baby brother in disapproval. Moving to the head of the bed, he reached forward and placed his hand of Sasuke's forehead to check for a fever.
Sasuke frowned at his brother and swatted his hand away in annoyance. "I'm fine. It's just a cold," his voice came out as a wheezing whisper much to his annoyance.
Itachi raised an eyebrow, completely unconvinced, "Uh huh. Well, since you've become an invalid I've brought you something." At his brother's annoyed glare, Itachi smirked and gestured towards the bag he had left at the foot of the bed.
"What," Sasuke swallowed with some difficulty, grimacing slightly as pain filled his throat, "what is it?"
"See for yourself," Itachi smirked but made no move to bring the bag closer.
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. He really didn't want to move and now his stupid brother was playing games with him. He spared a glance over to Naruto to see him looking at them in amusement. Apparently the blond thought that their 'brotherly bonding' was funny. "Open it," Sasuke ordered, feeling even more annoyed.
Naruto raised an eyebrow before shrugging and getting up from his cot. Leaning over the bed, he stretched out an arm and pulled the heavy bag towards him.
Sasuke suppressed the urge to sigh in disappointment when tan skin was once again was covered up by the blond's shirt. He had been enjoying the view when it had ridden up as the male had stretched across his bed (a position he wanted to see more of); but alas, it had quickly come to an end. Yup, with his fever gone he was definitely thinking much clearer. Why had he gotten the blond clothes again? That was a stupid idea…
Naruto peered into the bag and reached in to pull out a large box. He looked at the picture on the box and read the title in confusion before turning it to face Sasuke so he could see too.
Sasuke frowned, "What the hell is that?"
"It's a game console," Itachi stated.
Naruto looked back in the bag to see a small pile of game cases. He pulled them out and started looking through the colorful titles. They ranged from cutesy cartoon looking games to realistic shooters. They all looked so interesting. Naruto had never seen anything like them before. In fact, he didn't even know how they worked. It was another one of those human technologies that the Jinchūriki simply couldn't afford. He was only vaguely aware of the Uchiha brothers' conversation.
"And what am I supposed to do with it?" Sasuke questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Play it," Itachi stated as if Sasuke was a moron, "all the kids your age are doing it nowadays."
"That's stupid," Sasuke crossed his arms in annoyance. "I don't have time to sit around and play games. Besides, it's for kids."
Itachi smirked and poked Sasuke's forehead with his middle and pointer finger, "Foolish little brother, you are a kid. Besides, you're sick and shouldn't be working."
Sasuke growled, swatting the offending hand away from his forehead again and opened his mouth to tell off his aggravation sibling when he was interrupted.
"It says you need a TV for it to work," Naruto pouted as he read the back of the console box.
Itachi's smirk intensified, "Sasuke has a television, so that won't be a problem."
Naruto's bright blue eyes widened as he looked at Sasuke, "Really?" At Sasuke's reluctant nod, the blond leaned forward, clutching the bundle of games to his chest. "Can we play?" he asked excitedly, "Please?"
Itachi's smirk grew into a mischievous grin, "Yeah, come on Otouto. Your little pet wants you to play with him. You don't want to disappoint him, do you? After all he did say 'please'." He took in Sasuke's blank stare in amusement. It was clear that his words were having a lot of affect on his little brother. It was almost as if his intelligent brain was short circuiting (something that didn't happen very often). It was hilarious. Oh the joys of brotherhood. Besides, laughter was so rare in the Uchiha household nowadays, so Itachi had to take advantage of it where he could. Time for the final blow; "You could even say he's begging for it."
Sasuke's dick twitched as he thought of all the things he could imagine the blond in front of him begging him to do to him. His dick began to harden as he became lost in his fantasy, completely oblivious of the stares he was receiving as he zoned out. He thought of all the begging 'pleases' Naruto could be asking him for as he slammed him into this very mattress. Of all the 'games' they could play together. Of all-
"Sasuke?"
Sasuke was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of his fantasy's voice. He blinked a few times to clear his head and focused on the blond, who cocked his head to the side in confusion. Sasuke resisted the urge to lunge at the whiskered male, because he looked so freaking adorable at the moment and he wasn't even trying.
"What?" Sasuke grunted, unhappy that he had been caught in a day dream.
"Can we?" Naruto prompted again, holding up one of his many games.
Sasuke grunted again, "Fine, whatever."
Naruto smiled happily and bounced on the end of the bed.
"You have to set it up though," Sasuke stated. Still feeling annoyed about the whole ordeal.
"Ok!" Naruto exclaimed as he began to tear the console box open with no finesse whatsoever.
"Excellent," Itachi's comment pulled Sasuke's attention towards him as he made his way towards the door. "I hope you feel better, Otouto. Have fun playing." He pulled the door open preparing to leave, but stopped before exiting. Smirking, he looked back to Sasuke, "Oh, and make sure you wear protection."
The door slammed shut as a pillow hit it. "Bastard," Sasuke growled. He looked over towards Naruto who was still happily tearing wrapping off of electronic software. 'Fuuuck, I want him so bad,' he inwardly groaned. Realizing that he was still sporting a minor erection, Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to focus on something else until it was time to interact with Naruto again.
"Where's your TV, Teme?" Naruto questioned once he finished unwrapping everything.
Sasuke sighed and shifted in his reclined position. "See that cord? Pull that." He pointed to a thin rope that was hanging next to the side of the large Uchiha flag at the head of his bed.
Naruto nodded and did as told. The flag lifted up, revealing a large flat screen TV and shelves built into the wall. "Wow," he gaped as he looked through the collection of movies. The TV was huge! He had one at home, but that thing was like a foot in diameter in all directions and only got local channels, but this was a thing of wonder. "How come you never showed me this before?"
Sasuke shrugged, "I forgot about it. I don't use it very often."
"What about these?" Naruto questioned, pointing at the movies.
Sasuke frowned, "I received most of those from admirers while I was in school. The girls there knew I didn't like sweets so they started giving me other gifts. They knew I practiced martial arts, so movies eventually became the norm. Some aren't that bad, though I haven't watched most of them."
Naruto's eyes widened once he realized they were movies about martial arts. His fingers itched to go through them and force the teme to watch them with him. 'No, game thingy first,' his brain reminded him. "I'm totally going to kick your ass at this game, by the way," he stated with a grin.
Sasuke smirked at the challenge, "I'd like to see you try, Dobe."
It turned out they were both pretty terrible. Naruto had insisted that they start with a side platform fighting game and they soon discovered that Naruto's button mashing evenly matched Sasuke's precise combo moves since neither boy had any experience.
After a few rounds of running their characters off the map and into walls, they tried to play the story mode and immediately got annihilated by the system's computer. They had to play for a full hour before they were able to get through the first level.
Deciding to move on to something that might cause Sasuke's headache to lessen (Naruto kept yelling at the TV) they decided to put in a different game. This one was more family friendly, with little animated characters moving around a game board to occasionally stop to play a mini game.
The game seemed really stupid to Sasuke, but Naruto insisted that they play it. He had to admit (not out loud of course) that it was kind of fun. Sasuke rolled his eyes as Naruto struck the same pose as his character and copied his apparent catch phrase. Honestly, the Jinchūriki was such a child. 'A super sexy, yummy, fuckable child... Ok, scratch that, those two words don't belong in the same sentence. But still, very fuckable,' Sasuke thought with a smirk. He took a moment to let his eyes molest the body relaxing next to him.
They had moved all of his pillows to the foot of his large bed and were now both leaning against them as they stared at the TV, wasting the day away by repeatedly killing computerized characters. Naruto looked perfectly content as he reclined against the navy cushions, one long leg stretched out in front of him while the other was casually bent up at the knee. His hands were resting lazily in his lap as they cradled his controller.
"HA!" Naruto's loud shout nearly caused Sasuke to jump, startling him out of his revere.
Sasuke turned his gaze to the screen to see that Naruto had just won the latest mini game that they had apparently started without his knowing. "Hn, let's play something else."
Naruto snorted, "You're just being a sore loser because you're not in first place."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the blond's challenging smirk, "It's a kid's game and it's getting boring."
Naruto rolled his eyes and held his hands up in mock surrender, "Fine, fine, then what do you suggest."
Sasuke could feel the corner of his eye twitch in irritation. He didn't like the condescending tone the Jinchūriki was using. He wasn't being a sore loser, it was just hard to concentrate being sick and all… Grabbing a random game that had realistic looking graphics, Sasuke held it up for Naruto's approval.
Naruto took the game, looking over the cover before turning it over and reading the description on the back. He raised an eyebrow, looking up at Sasuke, "It's a first person shooter."
"And?"
"I've never shot a gun," Naruto argued with a frown.
Sasuke scoffed, "So? It's just a game."
"Have you?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"Have I what?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the blond's weird behavior.
"Fired a gun," Naruto said slowly as if the answer was obvious.
That tic in the corner of his eye was back. "Of course, all Uchihas are trained in multiple forms of combat. But again, it's just a game."
"Keh, whatever." With an overly dramatic sigh Naruto peeled himself off the bed and changed out the disks. Plopping himself back in his self designated spot, both boys waited for the menu to start up.
'Where is he?' Sasuke wondered as his narrowed eyes scanned the landscape in search for his prey. He breathed slowly as he moved behind a large metal structure that may or may not have once been part of a space craft. The adrenaline rush he felt allowed him to hear the blood rushing through his veins as his heart beat sporadically in his ribcage.
'I have to calm down,' he thought, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves. He needed to keep a clear head if he was going to survive this thing. Feeling like he had regained enough control over his heart rate, Sasuke peered around the corner and looked through the scope of his trusty sniper rifle once again scanning the area for his opponent.
"BANG! AARGG!" Sasuke's character crumpled to the ground, dead as a doornail. Sasuke blinked as the camera zoomed out over his dead body, allowing him to see Naruto's character run away with shot gun cradled happily against his chest.
"Suck it!" Naruto cheered happily as his laughter filled the room.
"Well, if you insist," Sasuke smirked.
Naruto's eyes widened. "Wha-?" Before he could finish his sentence the young Uchiha was lunging towards him. In his surprise, Naruto 'eeped' and threw his body to the far side of the bed, clenching his eyes closed.
"BANG! AARGG! 'REVENGE'," the deep voice of the game's narrator rang through the otherwise quiet room.
Naruto's eyes snapped open and he bolted upright staring at the TV where his character was a limp heap on the ground. Sasuke's character was standing over him, tea bagging him. Naruto turned wide eyes on the Uchiha who had a satisfied smirk on his face. "What the fuck, Teme?!"
"Pay more attention to your surroundings, Dobe," Sasuke taunted as Naruto's character responded and he once again killed him.
Naruto sputtered in indignation, "You cheated!"
Sasuke snorted, about to protest the blond's accusations, when suddenly a coughing fit overwhelmed his body. Leaning over his legs, the young Uchiha proceeded to hack up a lung.
Once he was sure Sasuke wasn't dying, Naruto paused the game before continuing, "And I'm totally aware of my surroundings. I could kick your ass in a real fight any day."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat, "Is that a challenge?"
Naruto grinned, "Hell yeah, I've been wanting to beat your sorry ass since I met you."
"Hn," Sasuke could think of other things he wanted to do with Naruto's ass since they met, but decided to keep it to himself for now. "Fine," he said instead, "Once I recover, we can spar." Reaching across the bed, Sasuke pushed the pause button on Naruto's controller so they could resume the game.
Naruto's grin widened, "You're on." Sparring again would be good, not only would it relieve some stress, it would also help keep him in shape. He couldn't become a fat house cat, or fox in his case, while he was held captive.
As they continued playing their game, Naruto's mind refused to stay focused on the characters and their weapons. Instead his mind wandered back to his reaction to Sasuke's earlier words. Why the hell had he reacted that way when he thought the Uchiha was finally making a move on him? Why hadn't he fought back? And why had his heart been beating so fast?
A.N.- Whew, done! So, Naruto if finally starting to feel things. It's about time, right? While I was writing this chapter I was like "Holy crap Sasuke is really screwed up!"… Yeah… Way more than I originally planned, but I like how it came out so I left it. As for the video games, I felt like I was writing blasphemy, because they were all from all different systems… but since I didn't name any, then it didn't really matter. Oh, and if you really didn't like the whole video games playing thing then don't worry cause they won't be doing it again. It just wanted it for the 'suck it' line :P
Just as a side note, the book they were talking about is Enchanted by Orson Scott Card. It's awesome and I did a really, really bad job with Naruto's summary… I'm a really slow reader, but I finished that book in like two days since I couldn't put it down. Check it out if you get a chance!
If anyone is wondering why Sasuke decided to get so share-y, well it needed to happen sometime so why not now? Hope everyone enjoyed it. Let me know!
Note to Guest reviewer- To the guest who left the awesome long review concerning the scene in the last chapter as well as Itachi's reaction towards Fugaku's violence against Sasuke. First of all, I included the scene with the tiger Jinchuriki not only to continue to expand upon my universe, but also because up until this point Sasuke has been seen as a total asshole. I wanted to show that Sasuke could act civil to the 'pets' of the castle even if he didn't technically need to. Sasuke just brushed off the girls apology instead of snapping at her, which says a lot in my opinion. Secondly, I really wish I could PM you in the matter of Itachi, however since I can't then I will have to tell you to wait for future chapters. Things will be explained. However, if you don't like the answers given once they are revealed then I wouldn't be hurt if you stopped reading my story. Until that point in time, I must remind you that Itachi and Sasuke barely see each other. They meet once a week at court, once a week at dinner (for maybe an hour), and once in a while when Itachi comes to Sasuke's room to bug him. That's it. And during all of those times, excluding the private bedroom time, Sasuke has his blank mask on. So thank you for your review and for your concern! Please sign in next time so we may discuss things at length.
Next chapter- New character! Until next time!