Stage Twenty-Five
Confrontation
Sai wasn't entirely sure what to make of the situation. He was not a social man so there was a level of discomfort he felt in the presence of multiple people but this moment felt especially awkward. He had agreed to let Naruto make him dinner in gratitude of helping him with the post Karin had released but perhaps he should have just accepted a simple 'thank you'. At this moment he was sitting across the table from a very irritated looking red head. He wasn't sure what he had done wrong but apparently it was deserving enough of a glare.
"Oh crap!" Naruto blurted out followed by a loud banging sound.
Sai watched in intrigue as Gaara jumped up from his seat at the table to check on Naruto. He was less panicked because he had a feeling Naruto was clumsy on a daily basis. With a sigh Sai rose from his spot and peeked into the kitchen. He watched calculatingly as the red head helped Naruto scoop up a few dropped hot chicken strips and placed them back onto the baking pan.
"You don't cook often," Gaara stated more so than asked with a deadpan expression.
Naruto gave a goofy smiled and shook his head. "Sorry I thought I was doing you guys a favor but this may be more of an inconvenience." He looked down at the lightly charred pieces of chicken. "Sasuke is a much better cook than me…" he muttered underbreath. He felt his heart tighten in his chest as the memory of when Sasuke made him spaghetti. He had been so ungrateful but he could see how hard making anything was on his own. He imagined there were a lot of things Sasuke would have cooked for him if he just let him.
"Naruto? Did you get burned?" Gaara asked. He grabbed the blond's hands quickly and turned them over in inspection.
"Wha- n-no I'm fine" Naruto insisted.
"Then…" Gaara paused looking over the blonde. "Why are you crying?"
Naruto's blank express suddenly flushed. He quickly reached up his wrist to rub at his eyes and gasped when he felt the wetness against his skin. Had it gotten to the point where he cried just thinking of Sasuke. How embarrassing?!
"Sorry Gaara. I'm fine. It's the smoke" Naruto laughed nervously and shuffled up quickly. He hurriedly pulled out plates to put everything on. "I'm sorry for bugging your dad to let you come over just for this pathetic meal."
Gaara shrugged nonchalantly. "He'll live." Gaara studied Naruto's movements, slow and sad as they were. "Did…. your boyfriend talk to you?" He saw Naruto's shoulders visibly slump, causing the red head to smirk just a little. "Asshole."
"He's…." Naruto wasn't sure what to say in Sasuke's defense. It was a real jerk move to cheat on him just because he was hanging out with friends. He had insisted that he wasn't sleeping with anyone to Sasuke but apparently his words meant so little to his boyfriend. Was that just an empty title he wondered.
The blond male's eyes widened when he felt warmth suddenly engross him. Naruto blinked and looked down seeing Gaara's arms encircling his chest. He felt the other's chest press against his back. Gaara's heartbeat it was so steady and calming. His scent was of cinnamon mixed with the lingering cleaning supplies used in hospitals.
"He doesn't deserve you." Gaara stated simply. His breath brushed against the short boy's ear causing Naruto to tremble.
Sai arched a brow watching the exchange. He wasn't sure what to make of it but Naruto had an odd collection of friends it seemed. He made a mental note to do a background search on Gaara. This guy didn't rub him the right way. Before Naruto could blurt out some sort of pathetic excuse on Sasuke's behalf they all heard a lord knock at the door. Sai, seeing that Naruto was preoccupied, waltzed over to the front door to open it.
A raven-haired man with a frustrated gaze stood before the door with his hand raised as if to knock once more in the event his first knock went unanswered. He was right to expect that Naruto wouldn't have opened it. Sai was all the more amused to see the frustrated look turn to dread as their eyes met. He was sure he was not the expected person to open the door so it must have filled this guy with disappointment.
"Is Naruto home?" Sasuke asked, his tone laced with anger. He wanted to ask who the hell this guy was but he needed to worry more about the important things. He needed to see Naruto.
Sai titled his head back to the kitchen. "Naruto, the asshole is here," Sai announced rudely. He stepped aside, assuming Sasuke would want to march right on in.
"Sasuke?!" Naruto slid right from beneath Gaara's hold and dashed out of the kitchen. He looped around the corner and nearly bumped into the wall if he had not grabbed hold of the doorframe and swung himself out of the way. "Sasuke!" he exclaimed again, seeing the other was truly there. His cheeks were already flaming red and his eyes a bit moist from the earlier image. He felt sick to his stomach looking at the Uchiha now but he couldn't force himself to look away.
Sasuke rushed over, grabbing Naruto by the shoulders. His heart sank when Naruto actually flinched away from his grip. "Why wouldn't you answer any of my calls? And you haven't been home in two days!"
Naruto's golden brows knitted together. He jerked out of Sasuke's grip. "Teme. Shouldn't the first thing out of you mouth be 'I'm sorry' or 'it was all a mistake'?" Naruto countered. His frustration built as Sasuke didn't look remorseful at all.
"You saw the article…?"
"Articles, gossip channel, web videos, even a few rumors I hear walking down the street. Man when you screw up, or rather screw someone, it really shows up everywhere," Naruto hissed out bitterly.
"…I'm sorry…." Sasuke finally muttered out. "I shouldn't have done that to you even though-"
"I didn't cheat on you, teme!" Naruto yelled back furiously. Naruto's hair even seemed to bristle up when he raised his tone. It had not only started Sasuke but Sai and Gaara. "How could you be so stupid as to think I would sleep with someone as soon as we call ourselves a couple?"
"What was I suppose to think? You spend the night in my brother's room, come back with random hickies, go around town pantless and hugging shirtless guys?!" Sasuke huffed back.
Naruto recoiled a bit. Shirtless guys? When did he… "You've been spying on me? Are you serious?" Naruto's eyes widened. "You don't trust me that much you have to go around following me?"
"I don't trust the guys you are hanging with" Sasuke argued back. Sasuke looked back to Sai still standing by the door. "And I don't even know that guy! Since when do you have so many friends? I thought you were a loner but now all of a sudden you are spending your time with everyone except me."
"Oh so I can't have friends now? I'm supposed to belong to you and only you?"
"Yes!" Sasuke hissed back. "You are supposed to be only with me."
"You don't own me just because I'm your boyfriend."
"Not because you are my boyfriend. Because I love you!"
Naruto froze at the words. They had caught him off guard entirely. He felt heat rising up to his face and his pulse had increased. Did Sasuke just say he loved him?
"You have a funny way of showing it. You don't cheat on the people you love" Gaara interrupted, stepping out of the kitchen.
Sasuke instantly went on the defense. He jerked back, moving his arm in front of Naruto. "Y-you're here too. Stay away from Naruto you sick fuck!"
Naruto shook out of his stupor and shoved Sasuke aside. "Woah, you have no right to call Gaara that. He has a point. You shouldn't have slept with that girl if you love me. The only sick one I see here is you."
"No-no dobe you don't understand. This creep mailed me dead rats. He's a psycho. You can't be around him." Sasuke blurted out. He looked suddenly so flustered as he tried to convince Naruto.
"That's ridiculous. Gaara doesn't even know where you live. This is his first time even meeting you. Maybe it was some other person you were seeing pissed off about what you did" Naruto huffed out.
"Naruto-"
"Leave me alone" Naruto declared firmly.
"Wha-?"
"You clearly don't want to come here with a decent apology and you just go around blaming my friends for things they didn't do. Go home Sasuke, I can't deal with this right now."
"But Naruto, I-" Sasuke motioned to grab Naruto's wrist and pull him close but his hand was sooner grabbed by the red head. Sasuke winced as he felt the tight squeeze around his own hand.
"You heard him. Leave Naruto alone" Gaara hissed back. "You've caused enough damage here." Gaara's eyes were akin to something demonic in Sasuke's opinion. Those dead jade pools looked like they would swallow him up alive and feast upon his soul bit by bit.
Sasuke reluctantly pulled his hand away until he was released. "This isn't over. We aren't over Naruto." The raven haired mailed back stepped toward the door. "Please be careful of the company you keep. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Funny. The worse thing to happen to him has been you so far." Gaara pointed out, earning a glare from the Uchiha before he marched out the door.
Sai broke the awkward silence with a whistle. "Drama." He was really wondering what type of boy Iruka and Kakashi were raising here. Did they even know what was going on?
Sasuke stomped down Naruto's apartment walkway to the road where Itachi waited in the car. His looks said enough. He threw open the door and plopped down into the seat.
"Let me guess. He didn't accept the apology." Itachi concluded drawly.
"Worse, his friends wouldn't let him. He had a bloody audience there and you know they have to put in their two cents." Sasuke complained. "Gaara is there."
Itachi's stoic expression quickly deepened into a frown. "So he's just not going to heed my warning…" Itachi couldn't have this. Naruto would be involved with yet another one of his cases and that would start to form a pattern. "Time to step up your game Sasuke."
"And how do you suppose I do that? I can't make Naruto listen to me." Sasuke crossed his arms bitterly at his chest. He wished he had never messed up then he could just put all the blame on Naruto for ignoring him. He would rather the blonde be apologizing to him than the other way around.
"You have to impress him. More than some floors and chocolate."
"Ramen. Naruto would prefer ramen over chocolate." Sasuke pouted a bit as Itachi gave him a look. "I understand what you me but what exactly do I do?" Sasuke felt further annoyance when Itachi merely shrugged. It was going to take a lot of work to make up for this mistake.
****A Week Later***
"Damn it Naruto" Orochimaru hissed. He glared the blond up and down. "You look like shit. Are you trying to get dropped from your first program?"
Naruto groaned and tugged at his cheeks to wake himself further. "I'm so sorry. I just haven't been sleeping well sir. I-I promise I'll do better before the actual show" Naruto insisted.
"You are lucky today is just a test recording. There are no retakes on live tv. Tomorrow you have to be prepared. I can't believe I let you do this reality show. Amateurs are so unreliable" Orochimaru growled out the last part.
"I swear you won't regret giving me this job!" Naruto exclaimed quickly, throwing his arms up. "I'll do my best, you better believe it!"
His spirit was shot but he could at least scrape up enough to put up a façade. Sasuke's betrayal had seriously messed up with his confidence. He had been living inside his head for the past week. It didn't help that he refused to answer any of Sasuke's calls or avoided him at work as much as possible. All the while he had been eating at Gaara's place whenever he could manage just so he had the excuse of not being home where Sasuke could find him. He felt incredibly childish for playing hide and seek but what was he supposed to do? He wasn't ready to forgive Sasuke.
"The Uchiha keeping you up all night?"
Naruto yelped and turned quickly behind him. He was startled to see the dark haired male with the beautiful face. He had come across him at the welcome party. He remembered Orochimaru telling him this guy would be on the show as well but it had completely slipped his mind. "H-Haku was it?" The other nodded. "It's not Sasuke…" at it wasn't the way that this guy was surely thinking. He couldn't sleep because he was so frustrated by Sasuke not because they were getting busy.
"Shame...I was hoping you would be a good distraction for him" Haku remarked. He walked past Naruto slowly and came to the stage set up for the show. "This is your first live screening right?"
Naruto nodded. "Y-yes. You are competing with me?"
"They are pitting experienced members against the rookies. It should be interesting. I hope you give me a challenge" Haku replied, giving a smile that confused Naruto. His tone was so sweet it implied he was being friendly but his eyes held something more…aggressive.
"I'll give you a run for your money" Naruto countered. His attention redirected to the set when the director called everyone up to stand in their places to test lighting and learn their steps. Naruto rushed up with the other participants..
A sense of disbelief was taking him as he stood on the stage. The lights were bright and blaring in his face as he imagined it would be on any stage in front of a large audience. He peered ahead at the cameras facing him. Everyone would be seeing him on his or her tv screens tomorrow. This was his chance, to finally prove to all the non-believers that he was someone important-someone they couldn't disregard.
Despite the excitement he should have felt at this moment Naruto could only feel misery. He wanted to share this moment with Sasuke. He knew the Uchiha would be proud; even happy for him. He had worked with him so hard to get this job and now he was having his first real gig.
"Sasuke…" Naruto murmured in a daze.
"Watch out!" A loud scream suddenly sounded.
The models on the stage all gasped out as one of the large lights burst, sending sparks flying down. The metal frame of the light snapped and fell from the ceiling. Everyone scattered from the stage quickly but it happened so fast….
To Be Continued…
A/N: I've returned! After much struggle I've found my way back to this fic. I'm so sorry for the wait. I'm going to try hard not to go on hiatus again. I'm updating a lot of my fics so expect lots of chapters to come up randomly throughout the next few months. I hope to finish all of my current fanfics before the end of December. I want to start new stuff in January. I'm open to suggestions of what pairing or shows to write fics for! Please review and keep alert. It gives me inspiration!
