Chapter 24

"You should really learn how to tie a tie…I've lost count how many times I've done this for you!" Sai teased the blonde with a grin as he fixed his coworkers tie. They were a fancy dancy restaurant after all so they had to look good!

Naruto shrugged and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I could but it's just so much easier if you do it for me!"

He wasn't looking forward to his Saturday shift. He had been kind of hoping to spend time with Neji again but it seemed the universe was against that. Well, the universe and Sai and Kiba…

But the Saturday shift always went by really fast as there was always lots to do. The pair immediately got to work. Though Naruto was a little less enthusiastic about work now that he knew Temari, his manager, was Gaara's sister… Despite forgiving the red-head, he still felt a little standoffish about the whole situation. It was uncomfortable knowing that she was, and could still be, keeping tabs on him and feeding the information back to Gaara. But he couldn't leave or quit… this was his only source of income and he had rent to pay!

"Naruto! Customers at table 16!" Temari barked at him as she walked into the back.

He immediately picked up his note pad and menus and headed to table 16… until he saw who was sitting there…

Two arguing black haired Uchiha brothers, glaring heatedly at each other. Naruto shivered; he could practically feel the ice forming in the air and chilling his insides. Oh dear… did he really want to go over there? He didn't have a choice… they conveniently sat in his section so he had to but… His blue eyes just stared, watching as they argued, trying to decide what to do.

"I don't see why you feel the need to treat me like a child, Itachi!" Sasuke growled low and dangerous.

"Maybe if you would stop acting like one, little brother, I wouldn't treat you as such," Itachi shot back. It was odd to see Itachi this peeved as he was usually so calm and collected. But their spat had grown from gentle teasing and goading into a full blown argument.

"Uhm… excuse me… here are your menus," Naruto murmured, trying not to look them in the eyes and hoping not to be seen. For a moment it would have worked too except for Itachi always being the more observant one of the two. He looked up at Naruto and his anger washed away at the sight of the timid face. He interrupted Sasuke from saying whatever it was he was trying to say in favour of talking with the blonde like nothing else was going on.

"Thank you, Naruto. What are your specials today?"

Sasuke growled and resigned himself to sulking quietly, staring at a scratch on the surface of the table. How rude! He hated it when Itachi cut him off and acted like he wasn't important at all!

Sasuke looked up at his blonde school mate when he addressed him, asking for his drink order. It startled Sasuke for a moment to see the slight worry on Naruto's tanned face. Why was he looking at Sasuke like that? Everything the teen did confused the Uchiha… especially lately. All his emotions had been all jumbled up and in chaos as he tried to make sense of things himself. Given what Neji had said too, Sasuke had still been debating, on and off, just what his 'type' was and why the Hyuuga thought Naruto was not it.

What did Hyuuga Neji know about his taste and type anyways? The moron clearly knew nothing! There was a lot to like about Naruto! He was bright, friendly, attractive, funny, easy going, caring, generous… It wouldn't be so bad to be with Naruto…

Wait… stop right there! Sasuke did not need to be thinking about this right now! He dimly realized he had been staring at Naruto for a while and looked away. "Black tea, please."

That was it? No venom? No glare? No name calling? Naruto was confused but moved away to get their drinks. So strange! Sasuke must really be bipolar or something… his attitude had a tendency to change like a girl changes clothes! He's mean, he's polite, he's bitter, he's nice, and then short-tempered and now he's submissive like a kicked puppy…

Itachi had watched the interaction with amusement.

Just as he was about to comment and tease his not-so-upset-anymore brother, loud yelling and crashing around could be heard from the front of the restaurant. All eyes turned to the front to see the blonde haired female manager yelling at a very attractive and rugged looking red-haired male.

Naruto came out of the back with drinks in hand and just as he was setting them down with a smile, the red-head spotted him and bounded past Temari. "Baby! Look! I came to surprise you at work!" Kyuubi latched himself onto Naruto and laughed as Temari tried throwing him out.

"Kyuubi! You are not welcome in my restaurant! Get out of here! You're disturbing the customers!" she spat, stalking over to him.

"You two know each other?" Naruto asked as he shoved Kyuubi off of him and tried to move away from the table.

"Yeah, she's my ex," Kyuubi shrugged his muscled shoulders like it was no big deal, shoving his hands in his pockets. Then his sharp eyes locked in on the pale and somewhat interested Itachi and he grinned predatorily. "Hey, sexy… and who are you?"

With a raised brow, Itachi eyed the man up and down before smirking slightly, "I'm Uchiha Itachi and this is my little brother, Uchiha Sasuke… who are you, if I may ask?"

Kyuubi slid into the seat next to Itachi, much to Temari's (and Sasuke's) dismay, "I'm Kyuubi, Naruto's roommate."

"Kyuubi you can't just invite yourself to their table! That's so rude! Get out of here!" Temari protested as Naruto just stared, jaw dropped, unable to react.

"You dated Temari?" Oh the chaos… would his life ever be free of it?

"Forever ago… she was too high strung for me though so I quit it," Kyuubi waggled his eyebrows at Itachi suggestively.

"I believe we broke up because you went to jail, you pillock!" Temari fumed, smoke coming out her ears, seeing red as she stared him down; thinking of a thousand different ways to murder him without anyone finding the body.

"The past is in the past, baby," Kyuubi dismissed her nonchalantly, his attention still on the older Uchiha male.

"Kyuubi, please don't make my life Hell… I swear I'll kick you out of my apartment if you don't behave and leave here right now!" Naruto threatened, trying to regain his composure.

"There's no need to be so rash. I'd like to learn more about Kyuubi if you don't mind. He's welcome at our table," the Uchiha scooted over to make room for the bane of Naruto's existence. Sasuke sighed and glanced at Naruto and smirked at the disbelieving expression on his face. He looked like a fish out of water, mouth gaping, blue eyes wide, blonde brows furrowed. What a simple mind, Sasuke thought affectionately. No! Not affectionately! Disdainfully, disgustedly, scornfully… Uchiha's were not affectionate! Only towards their significant others… GAH! What was wrong with him!? His emotions flitted around like a love-struck teenaged girls' and it was embarrassing! It was all mental of course as Sasuke would never show his anguish on the outside, especially not in front of his brother who would hold it over his head forever…

Just as Naruto was about to walk away, Itachi halted him. "I'm ready to order, Naruto… Sasuke are you ready?" Sasuke nodded; he always ordered the same thing every time he came here…

Naruto took their order, glaring evilly at his soon-to-be-ex roommate. He was incredibly frustrated and disapproving of this entire situation.

"Stupid Kyuubi and his stupid flirting ways and his stupid charm and picking Uchiha Itachi of all people and his stupid sleazy way of life! I'll strangle him in his sleep!" the blonde muttered.

As he brought the food back to their table, he tried to ignore the fact that Kyuubi was practically sitting in Itachi's lap and Sasuke looked incredibly stiff and uncomfortable. "Here you go! Please enjoy your meal," Naruto murmured politely. But just as he turned to run away in the opposite direction as fast as he could, Itachi stopped him again.

"Naruto! We were just discussing dinner plans for tomorrow! I'd like you and Kyuubi to come over to our house. What do you think?"

Naruto paled and turned back, fearful and uncomfortable. No wonder poor Sasuke was so quiet and rigid… "Uh… th-that… I mean… uhm… sure?" he glanced over at the stoic, younger Uchiha to wait for the scornful sneer, the glare, anything, and got only a mouth twitch and ignored… ooookkkkaaaayyy?

…

"I can't believe you! How could you just do that to me?! You're a terrible person!" Naruto fumed at home later that night.

Kyuubi shrugged from his comfortable position on the couch. "I got us a free, home cooked meal at a very attractive man's house… be grateful!"

"Grateful!? GRATEFUL?! RAWR!" Naruto pounced on top of Kyuubi, effectively toppling them onto the ground in a mess of limbs. "WHY DO YOU INSIST ON RUINING MY LIFE?!"

"I was just trying to get you closer to that kid you liked!" Kyuubi defended himself from Naruto's blows until the boy paused. Taking the opportunity, he flipped them over so Naruto was pinned beneath him.

"What? What do you mean?" Naruto demanded, struggling under him.

"You talk in your sleep, idiot… You talked about that Sasuke kid and wanting to do nasty, naughty things to him so I just set you up to meet him!" Kyuubi teased, easily holding the kid down.

Naruto flushed darkly and stopped struggling. "I did no such thing!" he protested.

"Well… maybe not the nasty naughty stuff… but you did talk about Sasuke…" Kyuubi shrugged.

…

"I don't wanna!" Naruto whined, holding onto the door frame to his apartment as Kyuubi tried pulling him out. "You can't make me!"

"We are going to this dinner, Naruto!" Kyuubi panted, pulling as hard as he could on Naruto's legs, trying to wrench him out of that damned apartment.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOO!"

So at the Uchiha house, Itachi answered the door to a smiling, charming red haired and lithe Kyuubi and a pouting blonde haired, slouching Naruto. "Welcome! Thanks for coming!" Itachi ushered them inside and led them to the kitchen where the food was almost finished being prepared. "Sasuke is at the table, Naruto, if you'd like to go talk to him."

Naruto took the hint; the two men wanted to be alone… he made his way to the dining room, nervous and fidgety. What mood would Sasuke be in today? "Hey…" the blonde murmured as he sat down across from the brooding dark haired boy.

Sasuke glanced up from twirling his spoon around on the table surface. He hesitated then looked back down and continued twirling his spoon. And if Naruto didn't know any better, he could have sworn he saw the faintest tinge of pink on those pale cheeks. But as he opened his mouth to say something, Itachi and Kyuubi walked into the dining room with food in hand.

Awkward… While the two older ones chatted and playfully bantered back and forth, Naruto and Sasuke sat in silence, not really looking up at each other but when they did, they often caught each others eyes and looked back down, feeling uneasy and embarrassed and...giddy? What was going on?

…

Ah… sorry for the terrible filler chapter… I know it's probably not something you guys want to see but I just needed to set up the tension for the next chapters… Only 6 chapters left till the end of this story! Oh noes!

PLEASE READ & REVIEW! Thank you to those who have reviewed my last chapter! I really love the enthusiasm and encouragement I get from you guys so thank you!

More drama to come now that the inter school competitions will be coming up! OOOHHHH! Exciting stuff!

All my love,

GMF