Title: Orchestral Infatuation

Authoress: Ira Vehmenti

A/N: Okay, don't get severely pissed off, but my writing style has probably changed in the god knows how long I haven't updated this. And maybe you're wondering why I'm updating now. That would be because I randomly got a spark. Not a very good one, because I disapprove of this chapter, but I can't imagine the spark ever coming back, what with the world of pain that college is. : D

Yes, I am continuing this. Until I wind this down to it's painful finish, if you're patient, which, if you're anything like me, you're not. I will eventually finish, because I really want to get this yaoi thing out of my head. xD

In Which Naruto Must Figure It Out On His Own

Temari always said weird things, so Naruto had learned to ignore most, if not all, of her useless advice, when she gave it. But today, some of her stupid advice pealed, like lighting, through his mind as he opened his front door. One step forward means a thousand steps back.

What the hell did that mean? Naruto had spent a good hour asking Gaara about Temari's advice once, and the answer that Gaara came up with, most likely to shut Naruto up, was Probably means exactly what you think it means.

Which was what, exactly? Did Temari even stop to consider what a 'thousand' was? It was ten times one hundred-- that's ten hundreds. Why would anyone take that many steps back from ONE measly step forward? Of course, Naruto had gone though countless thoughts. Perhaps it was just that this happened while you stood on ice? Maybe? But that couldn't be it, since appearently physics disagreed with that. So if there was no logical way, then Temari had lied.

But, Naruto wondered, how many steps would he have to take backwards before he could go forward? Two? Three? "Steps" wasn't even the way that Naruto preferred to put it, because if one was going to be all mysterious, the LEAST they could do was be mysterious but have a god damned purpose. "Steps" wasn't a good choice of words, because Naruto always took steps forward and didn't end up in freaking China when he did. What would be a better choice of words?

Actually, the question is, what the hell are you doing standing here pondering Temari's dumb advice? When has that ever helped you at all? and Naruto was forced to agree with himself, because mysterious phrases like that were just meant to psyche you out so that later you realized that they meant nothing and that you'd been had. So he walked into the house.

But he paused and realized something. Kaida had said...that he reached one conclusion that was logical, and then he stuck by it, even if it was wrong. Maybe...maybe he was wrong about Temari's advice too? But how did one take a thousand steps backward?

"Naruto?" Iruka's voice. Pain, anger, worry-- everything that Naruto was pretty sure had always been etched into Iruka's voice, even when he was 'happy', which was to say, not yelling at Naruto. Most of the time, actually.

He struggled to decide what to do. Turn and run a thousand steps, or face Iruka head on?

Head on, Naruto thought, would be the better choice, because a thousand steps in any direction may or may not get him lost. So he rose his shaky voice. "Yeah?"

Iruka rushed over, and there was a weird internal-external war where he didn't seem sure whether to hug Naruto, cry, or possibly punch his face in, so he settled on reprimanding him and hugging him so tightly Naruto possibly saw God.

"Don't ever...Don't ever do that again." Iruka mumbled into Naruto's hair. "do you have any idea how worried I was? you ran away for no reason...I thought..."

Naruto was still in sort of a daze, half because he could have been choked to death, but half because he'd really expected Iruka to punch him in the face.

"I...ah..." Naruto became acutely aware of his heart beat, Iruka's heart beat, the ticking of Iruka's watch, the smell of some weird cologne that Iruka sometimes wore, the amount of cars passing their house, and the pitterpattering of a mouse in the house that Iruka probably hadn't sufficently screamed at yet (because that, Naruto thought wryly, gets them out of the house Iruka. For sure.) "I ran away...because..."

Iruka pulled away, looking Naruto over with an expectant look. A thousand steps back, Temari's voice said, and Naruto swallowed.

"I ran away because I was afraid Kaida would have told you."

"Told me what?" Iruka asked.

Naruto didn't know where he was going with this lie. "That I.. hate you."

Iruka raised an eyebrow. "You pretty much yell it everytime I ground you, but you certainly don't act like you hate me. I wouldn't have believed her."

"...I thought you lied to me." Naruto managed truthfully, "But...she said maybe...maybe I..." he stopped. "It's my fault." He said, finally. "I thought that...I thought that you got me into school. It made so much sense! It was the only logical conclusion!"

"Since when have you been interested in the logical conclusion to anything, Naruto?" Iruka wondered, looking very perplexed. "What brought this on?"

"It...It was when you picked up Kakashi that day. You picked him up, but you didn't pick me up. You forgot me."

"..." Iruka's face went pale, ashen. He stared at Naruto and then weakly said, "Yes... that day..."

"I thought at first... maybe you'd come back. But then you drove away and I saw your smile and I knew I had to take the bus home. But then... why would you smile at anyone like that? Only if you...only if you loved them!" Naruto grew stronger every second. "Only if you loved them...you loved Kakashi, you love Kakashi! So...you have some sort of authority over him, right? If you ask for something and plead hard enough, you'll get it, right? So...So maybe you had begged Kakashi to get me into school. Maybe he'd told you that I sucked terribly and you had given up hope and pleaded with him to let me in!" Naruto could feel his voice detaching from him, because he hadn't meant to say anything like that. "Maybe...but it's all speculation...because you...you wouldn't lie to me, right?" Naruto managed weakly. "You wouldn't forget me, would you?"

Iruka firmly grasped Naruto's shoulders. "I would never lie to you." He said. "So I have to tell you the absolute truth. When you took your exams...I...I was very worried. I spoke at length with Suzuka, and she assured me that you would succeed." Iruka frowned. "But... you barely passed the exam to get into the school. I was worried.. I went to talk to Kakashi."

"You told me you 'ran into him'."

"That...That's not necessarily true. I was looking for him... but when I found him, I'd already given up." Iruka looked Naruto in the eye. "I asked him how you did?"

"And?"

"He said that you were good, but not orchestra material..." Iruka looked downcast, "but then he looked at me and said, 'But he's got some talent for memorization, doesn't he?' and I...I told him."

"You told him what?"

"I told him about your old violin teacher. Don't you remember what he used to say to you?"

Naruto scowled, "Yeah, he'd say, "Mon dieu, your hair eez very blond"."

"...uh, no, not that." Iruka mumbled. "He always said, "Even though sometimes you play badly, you are always on time. How do you play the wrong notes always at the right time?" He once commented to me that he thought you were just memorizing the numbers and the tempo, not the music."

"Oh." Naruto said.

"Kakashi looked at me for a long time, afterward. He asked me if you did that often, so I said yes, because, you know... you do, right?" Iruka looked at Naruto, who nodded. "When I answered, he asked me to drive him to school, and when we reached, he wrote a letter of recommendation for the orchestra right away. Then... the school agreed to have you transferred in, and I came home with the letter."

"..." Naruto stared at him. "That's... that's what happened?"

"That's everything?"

"The car?" Naruto asked.

"...I didn't forget you." Iruka said. "I could never forget you. But..." Iruka looked upset. "There are somethings that I can't readily tell you, you understand?"

Naruto looked at Iruka. "Oh my god!" He yelped. "You didn't!"

Iruka looked confused. "Didn't...what?"

"You bumped uglies, didn't you?! You did! You did!" Naruto crowed, tearing away from Iruka.

"Bumped ugli...What?!" Iruka's face turned so red Naruto was certain he could fry an egg on it. "Are you out of your mind"

"And you did it in the car?! I'm never riding around in that car again! Eww!!"

"Naruto!"