Sorry for not replying to reviews! I'll do better with that later on, I promise D;! I'm also sorry if this American Arc is dragging. I'm trying to slowly build up suspense and if that's failing... then bah ;A; I apologize for that as well.
Warning: I'm a tumblr addict guys, and you should all follow me on abstract-insanity(.)tumblr(.)com ;D. Link's on my profile! BUT ON TO SERIOUS MATTERS. This chapter is fluffy and then veeeers to the left like a bastard cutting you off on the highway and takes an angsty turn! GUYS. IT'S BIPOLAR TO THE MAX! But it leads things off to the next big part of this arc c;
Disclaimer: I OWN NIGEL. NIIIIIIIGEL. ALL OF THE HOMO!
Enjoy c:!
Chapter Twenty-Six: Canary
Sasuke's been gone for three hours, two minutes, and forty-five seconds. I've been reduced to nothing but a sniveling mess wrapped up in my favorite blanket watching reruns of Housewives. Fucking Housewives. That is the ultimate sign of how low I've sunken.
When Sasuke left, Iruka gave me a very stern talking.
"You should learn to trust him, and me. If something like this happens you should tell us immediately. As your boyfriend, and me… as your guardian, don't you think we deserve to know these things?"
Oh, how the guilt burned through my stomach.
Now I've resorted to laying facedown on the couch, left with no more tears to pathetically wail out into the innocent black sofa. I noticed our sofa wasn't even that comfy. Well, it's not comfortable if you have your nose at least three inches deep, but… come on now? We spent how much for this couch? It can't be softer than a Kleenex tissue?
Good Lord I'm babbling.
I felt a hand touch my shoulder and I instantly thought it was Sasuke. Only when my head popped up like a meerkat it was Iruka… looking amused more than anything else.
Oh here we go. He's going to make fun of my appearance. I see it coming.
Iruka grinned lopsidedly, patting my shoulder softly. "I don't know how comfortable I feel seeing you try to make out with our couch…"
"The couch is my lover and whatever I want to do with it is my personal business."
"Correction, that couch is one I bought with my paycheck; granted to me by Charisma. Therefore, move your butt over so I can sit with you."
Oh. We're playing this game of wits, are we? I pout, crossing my arms in a defiant manner. "I don't think Carlos would appreciate that."
"Carlos… the couch?" Iruka raised an eyebrow.
"Carlos Carlitos the couch."
"For the love of God, Naruto. Move!" Mom wasn't a man of patience. He booty-bumped me to the other side of the couch and sat down with a satisfied sigh. "Ah, that's much better. Now then, your eyes are bloodshot. Please tell me you didn't spend the past three hours crying? Wait. That's a stupid question," Iruka frowned. "You would cry for three hours."
"If you're trying to cheer me up you're doing a rather shitty job, Mom." I mutter darkly.
Iruka scoffed but he managed to at least give me a somewhat sympathetic look. "I thought the rude, sarcastic approach would be best. Looks like I was wrong. Okay, how about the motherly approach?" he wrapped his arms around my shoulder and placed his head on top of mine. "Naruto, baby, please don't cry on Mother's couch. It's very hard to clean off stains and I don't want my beautiful blond bundle of joy to be so depressed!"
"God! Okay! Stopped!" I half-laughed, half-groaned as I tried to push Iruka's face from mine but failing terribly. Somehow the little moment of boy trying to dislodge face from face turned into an all out tickle fight on the couch. And let me tell you all something very important…
Iruka's a Nazi when it comes to tickling.
I'm literally on the ground twitching from that mauling of a tickling session. I bet Iruka's sitting on the couch looking high and mighty and like he's the fucking king of Metropolis or something. Well, I hope he gets a stroke!
Wait. No. I take that back!
I find some dormant energy to roll around halfway so I can actually look at Iruka while I talk to him. "You… are… such… a cheater…" I pant.
"But you're smiling, right?" Iruka smirked.
I touched my face… Yep. It feels like my skin's being stretched off.
Okay. So his Nazi war-tactics are effective. I do feel a bit better. Not so much self-loathing traveling around, attempting to knock me down. I'm not in big spirits where I can go run marathons, climb mountains, catch a fish with my bare hand but I can…
Make it to the fridge and back.
That should count for something.
Iruka nudged me in the side with his big toe a couple of times. "Sasuke's gonna come back soon, and then you can both cry to each other, gush about how wrong you were, and then have a make-up kiss. I'll even secretly photograph you two if you want."
"No… I don't think that lost part will be necessary."
"Suit yourself," he shrugged. I highly doubt he was going to listen to me.
The door opened a little bit later, and my heart stopped working. Good Lord… he was home.
Iruka gave me a pat on the back for good luck. "You'll be fine. Sasuke's temper is a little out there but he's not going to anything drastic. Be truthful overall and don't forget to apologize."
Yeah, easier said then done.
Iruka left us alone to "converse and settle our differences" as he called it. Really, it was more like "Sasuke was going to bitch at me and I was going to stand there and take it". And I will, obviously. I'll take whatever verbal slashes he sent me. Because I deserve them all for not trusting him enough with valuable information.
For a few seconds neither of us said anything. Our gazes were kept to our feet. I clenched and unclenched my hands multiple times, my heartbeat pounding obnoxiously in my ears. I Should say something. Do something; anything to make this awkward silence pass. I can't find the words, though. A singer without the aid of words, how fucking ironic.
Come on, Uzumaki. Just say something! Apologize! Look Sasuke in the eyes and—
"I'm sorry." Sasuke had a terrible blush on his face. He absently scratched at his cheek, gazing back and forth between me and the nearby wall. "I think I overreacted a little back there..."
"N-No..." I reach for his hands which he, thankfully, accepts. Running my thumb over his knuckles, I try to take every groove and crevice to my memory. "I should have told you the minute I got the letter. I didn't tell you because... well... this week enough has driven me into a wall. I know I don't show it but I'm close to losing it here. And that letter..." I chewed on my bottom lip, literally grasping for straws here. Dammit words, where have you gone? "It's all a little too much."
Sasuke did the unexpected. He grabbed me in his arms and pulled me close. I gasped at the contact, blushing horribly at the feel of his hands gripping onto my waist so tightly. He pressed his lips to mine, the message he wanted to send received loud and clear.
I understand.
I think I'm crying again... fuck.
Sasuke tilted my chin up, wiping my tears away with the pad of his thumb. "Jeez, Uzumaki. You're more emotional than a pregnant woman sometimes."
"Shut up." I sniffed. Dammit, my tearing up is making my nose all runny!
"But it's cute."
"Uchiha, shut up!"
Sasuke smirked in that annoyingly handsome way of his and kissed me on the forehead. "Shut up for speaking the truth? That's a little harsh."
"Damn you..." I was blushing furiously now. I don't even think dunking my head in a bucket of ice water would cool this forest fire of a blush. "So you're not mad anymore? Because, um... if you are that's okay. Like I said you have every right to and all."
"I'm not mad, Naruto. I was but I thought about it and I realized if I were in your shoes I'd probably do the same thing. So everything's alright." he smiled, the one that I knew only I'd ever get so see. I smiled back, not with the same brightness but it was the best I could do. Wrapping my arms around his neck I pulled Sasuke in for a long, very needed kiss.
"Hey," I breathed once we broke apart, "I'm kind of hungry."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you eat anything while I was away? It's way past lunchtime."
"Yeah... about that," I choked out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of my head. "Um. Well. You see. Funny story about that. I was kind of making myself acquainted with Carlos."
"Carlos?"
"Carlos Carlitos, the couch."
"... You know what. I don't really think I want to know." shaking his head towards me, Sasuke interlaced our fingers and started dragging me towards the kitchen. "I make a rather nice Nutella sandwich—your favorite."
"Yeeees!"
My God, I love this boy.
+MAXED-OUT+
After that Sasuke made me call Jiraiya and Baa-chan to tell them about the letter. They both promptly freaked out, yelled in my ear about how stupid I am, and told me that they'd be on the case as to where the letter came from so they could handle his ass.
I don't think I'll be able to hear out of my left ear now.
The rest of the day ended up being like how my whole week has been. Nothing but watching On Demand movies with my lover boy. One time we got so bored we started watching My Little Pony...
Yeah, don't ask about that.
Then Sasuke had to leave for work—the lucky bastard—and left me to fend for myself. The battle against boredom was a heavy and long battle. We lost a few good soldiers in that war. A shoe, a teddy bear, a build-a-bear unicorn...
Even with all these casualties, only one true winner could come out on top.
"Take that you dirty bastard!" I threw my last remaining weaponry, some random shoe I found lying around, and chucked it at the wall.
Wall; defeated.
"VICTORY!"
"Naruto..." Iruka looked up from his crossword puzzle and frowned, "this is sort of pathetic."
I slowly lowered my arms down to my side. "Shut up..."
After that I locked myself in my room to finally sort through all the feelings that I... feel. I grabbed up my notebook full of pages filled to the brim with random lyrics. Some of them great hits, others just... not as great hits. I flipped through pages ranging from love to happiness to depression to confusion, all the spectrum of emotions a human could feel, I think I've written for.
Today I'm feeling a little desperate.
"I run, and you're there. At every corner... at every turn. Your chains are too strong. I'm trapped in you."
Every single line brings a flash of Vincent. His smile, his eyes, his lies, his words, his... I swallowed past thought. A cold shiver crawled up my back. Vincent, the man who literally screwed up my life. He could have stopped a lot of things from happening. He could have kept my innocent mind safe. He could have, but he didn't. I used to blame myself all the time for the actions I did, because in the end I went through with everything. I didn't even know selling myself was wrong until everything went South Pole one night.
Vincent knew, though.
He knew all along.
I grip my pencil tightly, the next few lines easily flowing through my head. "You've ruined me. Tainted me. Defiled my soul. Your nails have left lines, scars all over. They're the sign I carry over my head. The mark of a fallen child."
My cell starts to ring. I automatically assume it's Jiraiya and pick it up.
"Talk to me," I randomly scribble down another set of lines, crossing them out to replace them with better words.
"Ah, that beautiful tenor voice hasn't changed one bit, Canary."
This is the dramatic part with the hero drops his phone on the bed in pure shock. The hero's heart would slowly start to freeze over with fear. He'd hear the other voice cackle hysterically at the reaction and then continue to verbally attack and attack the hero until he was nothing more but a whimpering, withering mess.
To my defense I'm not a whimperer—I'm more of a whiner.
The room felt like it was ten times smaller than it normally is. I should hang up. Press the END button. Then I'll call every single fucking person I can to come help me kill this bastard. Rage and fear and desperation and the painful sting of memories are all combating against me at once. The room's spinning and my finger's shaking over the red button...
Instead I pick it up.
"Vincent... how did you get this number?"
"The same way I got your address."
Someone leaked. Vincent was the type of guy who subtly gloated about his minor victories. Only you'd never be able to see the gloating behind his sarcasm and vagueness unless you knew him.
Sadly... I knew that man all too well.
"That's nice. Now get the fuck out of my life." I don't know how I'm keeping my voice so calm right now but I praise God for every minute my voice doesn't crack.
"My, my, the little bird's got some language now huh? You little bitch."
Another thing about Vincent—he was a gentleman with a sailor's mouth.
"Yeah. Yeah I do. I'm also a rather happy and successful 'little bitch' without you trying to come up here and fuck with my life! You're supposed to be dead... Who the heck brought you back from Hell?"
"Obviously I'm not. But, to play along with your stupidity, if I were to have come back from Hell you'd be my driving force..."
Bile slowly climbed up my throat. Vincent was doing his thing where he'd dropped his voice a few octaves to sound seductive. In reality he sounded more like a creep but it was doing his job of keeping me rooted with fear.
I have to end this call. Now.
"Whatever you're trying to do Vincent isn't going to work. I'm not yours! I never was!"
"Ah, allow me to interrupt you there because I know you'll violently hang up the phone soon." despite my better judgment I don't slam my finger angrily on the red button. "You are mine. You never left my side—physically, yes but mentally? Oh no. I bet I've been on your mind every second your thoughts start to drift. You're right, you are successful. I knew you were gifted for great fame from the start. But all great things must come to an end. I am that end. I'm coming back for you, and to do that I'm going to destroy everything around you until you have to come back to me. And when that time comes it'll be like you've never left me. Keep that in mind, Canary."
The line went dead after those final words, along with my heart. I glanced down at my hand; it was shaking. Hell, my whole body was shaking. My thoughts... they're... I can't think straight. I... The only thing going through my mind are his words. Vincent. His words.
The end.
He's planning... planning to rip everything away from me...
Everything...
"S-Sasuke..." my voice is so shaky speaking into the phone. I feel like I'm breaking. "P-Please... come home?"
NAAAAAAAAAARUUUUUUU~ D; /HUGGLES YOU
MY BAAAAAAAABY!
On a side note, I'll still take Sasunaru Oneshot prompt requests for my summer collection if you have any c; Be as vague or as specific as you wish. I already wrote two that will be making their appearances. You can find them on my tumblr located in the Past Oneshot Requests page on my blog ;D.
NOW. BACK TO THE REAL ISSUES. EHEM. Vincent. What in the heck could Vincent do that has not already been done! TELL ME! TEEEEEEEELLLL ME!
VINCENT. YOU BASTARD. OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!