"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto smiled at his black haired friend, who was just getting himself comfortable in Naruto's passenger seat.
"Hey." He said back, offering him a smile. The awkward atmosphere that had lingered between them two weeks ago was mostly gone, by now. However, that didn't stop Naruto feeling the increasingly familiar sharp sting, every time Sasuke smiled at him. It was like someone doused him in icy cold water, while a searing heat burned within him. It took him by surprise every time, and this time was no exception. "Are you okay?" Sasuke asked, looking concerned at Naruto's lack of response.
"Ah, yeah, I was thinking about this film - well, play - that I watched last night." Naruto grinned, setting off for Konoha Theatre.
"Oh yeah? Was it good?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto dared to glance at him; the orange streetlights lit up Sasuke's face at intervals, and he was instantly thrown back to that night in front of Sasuke's window. He quickly looked away.
"Oh yeah," He breathed, a faint smile on his face that spread in to a grin. "It was amazing! It was a professional recording made a few years ago of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, by The Royal Shakespeare Company."
"Twelfth Night?"
"Uh-huh!" Naruto nodded, and as the heavy, city traffic thrummed around them he fought to keep the grin on his face; despite his promise to Yamato, his happy mask was a hard habit to break. "Don't tell me you've never seen it?"
"I'm not exactly a fan of Shakespeare."
"... I'm sorry, did I just hear you say that? The guy who's going to be playing Romeo in one of Shakespeare's most famous plays in less than two weeks, isn't exactly a fan of Shakespeare?!"
"Well, I already told you this was a favour for Tsunade. I know you auditioned because you were passionate about it, but not everybody is, you know."
"You must owe her a lot then, to take this kind of project on... Anyway! That doesn't matter, what matters is clearly you need educating. Everyone thinks Shakespeare is just old fashioned and difficult to understand, but it's poetry, and he's an honest to God genius..."
"Wow, I never thought you'd be one of those people..." Sasuke muttered.
"Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean? I'm an actor, Sasuke, an actor who knows a genius playwright when he see's one... Even if I admittedly can't understand all of the words, I can understand the essence of them..."
"Okay Naruto."
"Romeo and Juliet isn't the best example," he continued, ignoring Sasuke's sarcastic tone. "But Twelfth Night? Much Ado About Nothing? You have to come over one evening and watch one of them with me!" Naruto smiled, already trying to figure out which day would be best.
"Oh, I have to, do I?" Sasuke said with a smirk, teasing him.
"Absolutely!" Naruto affirmed, with a firm nod. "After the last rehearsal next Monday night? I have Tuesday off work next week, so I won't need an early night."
"Do I have a choice?"
"No, but you want to come anyway, so that's not a problem." Naruto said, confidently. Sasuke didn't respond, but smiled to himself. "I'm taking your silence as a yes." Naruto said, before he slammed on the break, almost not seeing the red light. They both violently jerked forward at the sudden motion.
"You idiot, are you trying to kill us?!" Sasuke shouted on impulse, as a large truck crossed their path; where it would have flattened them both at that speed, if Naruto hadn't stopped.
"Uhh... Oops?" He laughed nervously.
"You will be saying oops when we get out this car, and I get my revenge on you for almost giving me a heart attack!"
"I'm sorry!" He said, jumping again when the cars behind him started beeping.
"The lights on green, move you idiot." Sasuke said, with fake anger.
"Yeah, yeah..." Naruto mumbled, putting his car in gear and setting off. He tried desperately not to panic and calm his shaking hands, but doing so only made it worse.
"Do you want me to drive?" Sasuke said, after he'd managed to calm down from the situation and noticed Naruto still looked a bit shaken up, probably for longer than what was understandable.
"Umm..." He glanced over at Sasuke, and noticed his own unease that was making it difficult to drive, or concentrate. "Yeah, might be a good idea..." He admitted quietly, looking for somewhere to pull over so they could swap sides. He wondered why he had been so affected by it - he knew Sasuke had been exaggerating slightly about the severity of the situation, but something about even the slightest possibility of getting hit by that truck turned his blood cold, and he started sweating.
"Naruto, are you okay? Do you want me to tell Tsunade we'll be late? Is it a migraine again?" Sasuke asked, now sat in the driver's seat and looking concerned.
"No, I'm fine, let's keep going... I want to talk to Kakashi before the rehearsals start; he's directing the next play I'm auditioning for, so I was hoping to get some help about one of the characters..." He grinned half-heartedly, trying to change the subject. Sasuke wasn't convinced, but decided not to push it any further and did as Naruto asked.
"So, you're auditioning for a part in 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja', too?" Sasuke asked as he drove them through the city, trying to distract Naruto with something positive. Naruto without his trademark smile was unsettling, to say the least. "Which part?" He asked, in answer to Naruto's silent nod.
"The loud, main character - the titled 'gutsy ninja'!" Naruto grinned, finally (even though it was still somewhat empty, Sasuke noted with a frown) and jammed his thumb to his chest for emphasis. "Wait... You're going for a part again?" He asked, looking like he didn't quite believe that statement.
"Yeah, I think so... I suppose I've kind of enjoyed this, so out of curiosity I read the script when the auditions were announced... And... I could really see myself playing the other main character; the gutsy ninja's rival." He said, smirking at Naruto. "Should be easy for us, right?"
"Heheh, you bet!" Naruto laughed, a genuine smile now spreading on his face, and similarly a warmth spread throughout Sasuke's entire being in response; from his chest, right down to his fingertips. Sasuke quickly looked back at the road, as he was hit with the sudden feeling that looking at Naruto's beaming smile, was like looking directly at the sun itself. The realisation was sudden, and shook him right down to his core.
Naruto shivered, as he walked in to the dimly lit room at Viola Ophidia a few days later. The silence in this place was deafening; a far cry from the comforting, bright waiting room at Tree Of Life. 'This is almost suffocating', Naruto thought to himself, as he sat on the edge of the black leather sofa gingerly, and heard it crinkle underneath his weight. Besides the sofa he sat on, and the identical one across from it, the only other piece of furniture in this room with brown-black walls was a small, dark wooden table and the lamp that sat atop it; the only source of light in the room. The bulb stood atop a long, black, ornate metal stand, and was covered by a Tiffany style purple glass shade, casting a purple glow around the room as faint specks of light were scattered across the walls, reflected off what looked to Naruto like purple crystals, hanging off the edge of the lamp shade like icicles.
In this room, every sound seemed amplified, and his ears strained to pick up something - anything - as the door to his right opened, and a tall woman with bright red hair walked through it. She smiled at him warmly; her colourful appearance and entire aura at odds with their surroundings.
"Hey. You're new, aren't you?" She asked when she noticed Naruto sitting there, and she smiled at him knowingly.
"Yeah, never been here before, it's..." He trailed off, looking around as though looking for the right word. "Different."
"All the newbies say that." She said, grinning in a way Naruto could only describe as oddly familiar, though he was sure he'd never met her before. "I'm Karin, by the way." She continued, coming over to sit opposite him. "Karin Uzumaki."
"Ah! Hi, Karin, I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" He grinned, visibly relaxing upon realising he already shared something with this strange woman.
"Oh no way, another Uzumaki! Not met many in this city since... Well, since quite a long time ago." She said, her smile faltering for a fraction of a second.
"And I'm the only one I know, well, until now." Naruto replied. "Do you work here?"
"Nah, been coming to see old Oro for a few years now - by the way, they're a little intimidating, but don't let that put you off... They're a genius at what they do." She said, with a glimmer of admiration in her eyes. Naruto just smiled and nodded, not entirely sure what it is this 'Oro' person actually does, other than something to do with dreams. He silently wished he'd done his research before he came here.
"Naruto-kun, is it?" A quiet, yet commanding voice broke through his thoughts, and Naruto shivered as he looked up at the older Japanese person, eyes lingering on the long hair that flowed past their shoulders.
"Yes, that's me." Naruto gave a small smile, after a few moment's hesitation.
"You can come through, when you're ready." The older person said, before turning around and practically gliding back through the door they had just come through. When Naruto didn't move, Karin gave him a reassuring pat on his shoulder.
"A genius, Naruto. Don't forget that." She reminded him. "I gotta go, but I'm sure I'll see you again." She said, getting up from the sofa and heading towards the door. "Have fun!" She said, giving him one more familiar grin before she left. Naruto continued to watch the door for a while after it closed, before swallowing nervously and turning around to go through the door that Karin and Oro had come through, moments before.
"Take a seat, Naruto." Oro said to him, and gestured to the seat opposite them. Naruto uncomfortably did so, as he looked around the room; it was a lot like the one he'd just come from - the same, minimal, dark decor. They were both sat on dark wooden chairs, complete with purple plush seat pads and high backs. A table sat between them - also dark wood - with two glasses of water sat atop decorated round coasters - also purple. Next to them along the opposite wall was a therapy couch, unsurprisingly furnished with plush, royal purple coloured fabric and the typical curvy back rest and side. If Naruto wasn't so nervous, he'd have laughed at the scene - he felt like he was in Dracula's personal office. Upon that thought, Naruto picked up the glass nearest to him on the table, and tentatively took a sip.
"My name is Orochimaru." The other said simply, mirroring Naruto and taking a sip of their own water. "What brings you here?"
"Well, you were recommended to me by my th- someone, because I keep having bad dreams and he can't provide any answers."
"I see... Tell me about them."
"Uhh, I don't really know where to start..."
"Okay, start by telling me how often they occur, how many you've had." They said, their words seamlessly flowing together with a soft, fluid, and quiet drawl; much like a snake.
"Once or twice a month... And about ten, I think."
"Okay. What happens in them?"
"They're all quite similar, I'm in Konoha at the time when it was probably still a village, and the setting and people in them are different but I'm always chasing after someone I know; somebody I met last year - which is when the dreams started, now I think about it..." Naruto said, a look of realisation creeping on to his face.
"I see, yes, I've seen this before." Orochimaru said, mostly to them-self. "Tell me about this person. How do you feel about them. Where did you meet; this is all relevant."
"Right, okay..." Naruto said, stalling for time and trying to decide if he was ready to reveal this to a complete stranger. He looked back at Orochimaru, looked into their light brown eyes that looked almost yellow, and felt a strange sensation urging him to continue - like he had been put under a spell. "Sasuke, the person I have this dream about," he began, fidgeting in his chair and looking anywhere but at Orochimaru, who he could see leaning forwards slightly out the corner of his eye at the mention of Sasuke's name. "I met him at the theatre, where I have been involved in productions year after year for a long time. He joined last year, and the girl I liked, liked him instead, and I just didn't get along with him. So we developed some kind of rivalry."
"I see. Is this still the case?"
"No, we're actually good friends now." He explained, and Orochimaru gently raised one thin brow. "I also recently found I have some feelings for him, too... Um, physical or romantic ones, I'm not sure... Probably both."
"What did it feel like, the first time you met him?"
"Hmm..." Naruto hummed, looking down in thought as he tried to remember. Long before their rivalry, before Sasuke rejected the friendship ramen, before- "I saw him re-organising the props cupboard at the theatre..." He said, an affectionate smile sitting on his lips. "He looked up, and our eyes met... I didn't think about it much at the time, but I felt like I'd met him before, like I already knew him on some kind of level I'd never experienced before... Not with Sakura, or Kakashi, or Iruka... Yeah, that's the only way I can explain it."
"Yes." Orochimaru nodded, as though they had expected this kind of response. "How has your life changed since then, besides the dreams?"
"Ah... Well at the time, I was working backstage too, heading the props team that he had just joined. I had always wanted to be an actor, and I thought that helping backstage would have got my foot in the door - so to speak - but I just kept being rejected for parts over and over, always being seen as the props boy. I suppose it was after meeting him, that I found the strength from somewhere to speak up and quit the props team. The next audition I went to, I got the part... And another, and from then on I was seen as an actor within the theatre. But..." Naruto frowned, thinking harder about his answer. "On the contrary, a lot of bad things started happening, too. I relapsed a little with managing my anger, I fell in and out of depression more times this year than I have before, and my car broke down... I was fired from my previous job... Is any of this relevant? I thought this was about my dreams?" Naruto asked, confused.
"Oh, this is all relevant. Please, lie down on the sofa, we're going to do some energy work."
"Energy... work?" Naruto blinked, confused. Now he really wished he had researched this person, and what they do.
"Yes. You lie down, close your eyes. I will balance your chakras, heal you on a soul level, and get your energy flowing in a high vibration."
"Uh, okay..." Naruto nodded, going along with it. "But, my dreams?"
"We will discuss that afterwards." Orochimaru said, as they turned on the speakers with a press of a button - each one situated in each corner of the room. Out of them flowed some relaxing, meditation music. "Breathe deeply, relax in to the breath..." Orochimaru said, their tone changing to a more soothing, relaxing one.
Naruto lay down, closed his eyes, and did as he was told, focusing solely on the calming music and soothing voice. What followed, was one of the most surreal things Naruto had ever experienced. He heard Orochimaru move around him, yet not touching him (Naruto pictured them waving their arms over him as though they were casting a spell, and had to hold back a laugh), but then after about ten minutes of this Naruto began to feel a strange, swirling sensation on his left arm and at the top of his head. He flinched a bit at the sensation, and almost shouted out - but he didn't want to ruin the atmosphere or Orochimaru's concentration. The swirling sensation continued, now feeling it at his feet, too. 'So it's not Orochimaru touching me, then, unless they have three hands...' Naruto thought, beginning to feel like something more was going on, something he didn't understand - maybe Orochimaru really was working with him on an energetic level.
An indeterminate amount of time later, Naruto heard Orochimaru move away from him, and sit back on the chair from earlier.
"Take your time to come back around, Naruto-kun..." Orochimaru said softly, and Naruto heard the scratching sounds of pen on paper as they took some notes. Naruto slowly opened his eyes, and sat up after a few moments, feeling lightheaded - now he could see why Orochimaru told him to take his time. When he felt steady enough, he swung his legs off the sofa and walked back to his chair across from Orochimaru, who didn't look up and continued writing notes for a few more moments.
"Lot's of energetic blockages." They began, and Naruto stayed silent, allowing them to explain. "Mostly in your crown and heart chakras, but also your root chakra, too."
"Okay..." Naruto said, waiting for an explanation. "And, that means...?" He prompted, when he didn't get one.
"Well, your heart chakra is responsible for love and healing, crown; spirituality and intellect, and root; passion and energy. You should experience some changes in those areas in your life, as a result. Your energy is now flowing evenly, which makes you a perfect beacon of attraction at this present moment."
"Okay, great..." Naruto said, not really understanding it and making a mental note to research what all these terms were about. "And, the dreams?" He asked again, reminding Orochimaru why he was here.
"All relevant, Naruto." They said, finally putting the notes down. "It may not usually be my place to say this, but I feel called to ask; are you aware of the term; 'twin flame'?"
"Twin... No."
"I see. Well, a twin flame is, simply, the other half of our soul - yet much more than a soulmate; a word already so freely thrown around without much care. Your twin flame is much like yourself, perhaps experiencing similar things or upbringings, or similar likes and dislikes to you." Orochimaru looked up and met Naruto's gaze - Naruto shivered, but didn't break eye contact. "Yet, they are also your polar opposite; yin and yang, sun and moon, and so on. When you meet them, they will awaken things in you you never knew were there; good and bad. This may manifest in your life physically - such as losing a job, or your car breaking down. They will awaken you spiritually, the universe setting things in motion for you to experience such an awakening; such as a business card from your therapist bringing you right to me, who can reveal this information and help awaken you." Orochimaru stated calmly, leaning back in their chair again, and breaking eye contact to look back down at their notes.
Naruto frowned; he hadn't recalled telling Orochimaru that Yamato had been the one to recommend their services... In fact, he specifically remembered stopping himself before he said anything. Naruto wondered if this person was actually psychic, too.
"And now... Your dreams..." Orochimaru continued, and Naruto brought his attention back to the conversation. "It is also said you can incarnate multiple times with your twin, so what you are experiencing in your dreams may actually not be fictional, but real memories. If you were always chasing him, this may be something you need to work on and heal in this lifetime, together."
"R-right..." Naruto said, lost for words; it was a lot of information to process. "You think this is Sasuke, for me? My Twin?"
"I won't say yes or no, that is ultimately something you must experience. Only you can truly answer that question."
"Okay..." Naruto said, still at a loss for words. After this, they arranged another appointment in two months time, Naruto paid for the session, and they parted ways. As he made his way home, Naruto's head was swirling with more questions than he had arrived with, and he could find no answers. He had a feeling that Karin was right; Orochimaru was some kind of genius - but not the kind he had expected.
This audition was a lot different than the last one, Naruto happily noted. For starters, it was now Kakashi sat among the casting team, as he would be the director for this play; Tales of a Gutsy Ninja. And secondly - for Naruto - it was a much more positive experience. He had read and re-read the script many times, and he was convinced that he was exactly the same as the main character. It was a tale of war, and the ultimate search for peace; set with a backdrop of ninjas and jutsus supplemented with life force energy - it was an adaptation of a very old book of the same name, and based on stories of the old world; based on the life of a ninja said to have been hailed as a great hero of his time. Naruto was obsessed with it, to say the least, and couldn't wait to get up and play the gutsy ninja; even if it was just for the auditions, he would be happy.
When Naruto finished his audition, he looked at Kakashi, who met his gaze. Despite the mask covering half his face, Naruto could see a strange look there, that he couldn't quite read; like he knew something that Naruto didn't.
"Thanks, Naruto. Oh, please stay on stage, I want to see something - if that's okay with the rest of you?" Kakashi asked the others on the casting team, and they all nodded. "Sasuke," Kakashi said, turning to look over his shoulder at the man in question. "Can you turn to page two hundred and sixteen, and read through that scene with Naruto for me, starting with 'You can't change me'?" He asked, and Sasuke quietly complied.
"Heh, this is a good sign." Naruto whispered to Sasuke, when he joined him on stage. His scene partner just shushed him, cleared his throat, and began the scene.
"You can't change me, no matter what you say to me now." Sasuke directed his first line, looking intensely into Naruto's eyes. Naruto shivered, and didn't find it hard to react genuinely to Sasuke's performance. "I'm going to kill every last one of them. Including you."
"Is that really the only way?"
"Yes. Your only choices are; to kill me and become their hero, or be killed by me and remain a loser."
"I don't believe that. I'm not going to be the loser, or the hero who killed you." Naruto said his line, feeling the anger and desperation naturally rising up within him, and feeling an odd sense of deja-vu. "Neither one's gonna happen! I..."
"Why are you so fixated on me?" Sasuke said, as quietly as he could while on stage, and Naruto looked up from his script again for a moment, feeling the overwhelming connection between them. It was intoxicating; that long sought after feeling that all actors chased, when you and your scene partner are in the zone, connected, as one... It not often happened, but it was always worth the wait when it did.
"It's so clear..." Naruto continued. "Just now, we learned things about each other just by trading blows. Did you feel it? Were you able to read what was inside my heart?" Naruto asked, vulnerability creeping in as he looked in to Sasuke's eyes. He felt like he had been stripped of everything, and all was in the open for Sasuke to see; and there was nothing he could do to stop it. "You saw it, didn't you?" He almost whispered his line, forgetting the casting team, forgetting to project his voice, forgetting they were on stage entirely. Sasuke didn't respond straight away, and Naruto watched the small bump in his throat bob up and down, as he swallowed hard. "If you and I fight," Naruto paused, before continuing. "We will both die. If you attack, I will have to fight you. Save your hatred until then... And when the time comes, throw it all on me... And on that day..." Naruto paused, feeling for the right time to say his next words. "I'll bear the burden of your hate, and die with you."
"I'm going to ask you again... Why are you so fixated on me?!" He asked, almost shouting this time - his voice dripping with impatience.
"Because you're my friend."
"That's great, you two, thank you." Kakashi said, his words cutting through the air like a knife. Naruto blinked, as he tried to ground himself back in reality. He looked over at Sasuke, and saw he was similarly affected. Naruto wasn't entirely sure what had just passed between them, but it was something intense and he knew he had no hope of understanding it. It was like he was living out one of his dreams. Sasuke looked back at him, and they both felt like they could read each other's thoughts: 'What the hell just happened?'
"So, you play guitar?" Sasuke asked, as he followed Naruto down the hall and his gaze lingered on the acoustic guitar, propped against the wall at the end of the hall.
"I do! Want me to play you something?" He asked, already moving to pick it up.
"Sure, why not." Sasuke shrugged.
"Cool! First stop, my bedroom! Only fair, as I've seen yours already." Naruto said with a snicker, leading the way. "I prefer to play sat on my bed." He added, to ease the awkwardness created by his previous statement, that had brought back memories of that night for both of them.
Naruto's room looked exactly as he expected it to, Sasuke noticed, as he looked around and placed his backpack filled with his overnight things on Naruto's messy desk, while Naruto made himself comfortable on the edge of the bed. He didn't have much time to think about the state of the room, though, because Naruto started playing, commanding his attention.
The song started with a simple tune that sounded perfect on an acoustic guitar, and Naruto's foot tapped to the beat, sounding a little like a heartbeat; ba-dum... ba-dum...
"We were lovers in a past life..." Naruto began to sing, and Sasuke was surprised that he wasn't bad... Not amazing, but not bad either - he had heard the others at the theatre laughing about Naruto's bad singing at karaoke on his birthday, but this was not what Sasuke could hear now. The song told the story of two lovers, who began as stardust and then lived through many lifetimes together; the singer seemingly recognising this in the other. Sasuke looked around for a chair, suddenly feeling the need to sit down, like his legs couldn't support him properly. He finally settled on Naruto's desk chair, and soaked up Naruto's performance - watched his fingers as they expertly and hypnotically danced over the strings. "Time after time..." Naruto repeated, trailing off as the song ended. "Umm, so, what do you think? I wanted to use the pick Gaara got me for my birthday." Naruto explained, picking it up from where he left it on his bed, and showing it to Sasuke. "But this song is easier to play with just my fingers."
"It was..." Sasuke said, struggling to find the right word for what he had just experienced. "Nice." He smiled.
"You think? It's a bit of a cheesy song, especially the lyrics, when it says 'I built the pyramids for you, babe'... Ugh!" Naruto said, cringing and laughing at the same time.
"Well, it's not about the lyrics or the singing, but the playing - and you played it really well." Sasuke praised.
"Thanks." Naruto smiled back, and their eye contact lingered for a beat too long. "Umm, so, you wanna watch Twelfth Night now? I've got us snacks!" Naruto said, as his wistful smile turned in to a grin. Sasuke nodded and Naruto put the guitar down on his bed, leaped up, and lead the way to his living room.
"So, Kakashi said something strange to me after the auditions the other day!" Naruto called through from the kitchen a little while later, as he prepared their movie snacks. Naruto and Sasuke had both driven to the auditions separately, as they both had separate commitments afterwards, so Naruto didn't get a chance to tell Sasuke about Kakashi's strange behaviour until now. Naruto had found it hard to concentrate at work after that intense audition, and Hidan hadn't wasted any time letting him know just how he felt about that.
"Oh yeah, what did he say?" Sasuke answered back, getting himself comfortable on Naruto's light brown sofa. He looked around the living room, and shook his head fondly at the state of it; it was clear Naruto had attempted to tidy for his guest, but it didn't seem he had done a very good job of it. Sasuke laughed quietly to himself, when he noticed one sock hanging on the corner of the TV screen.
"He said; 'Are you finally able to understand each other?', and I asked him what the hell he meant, and he just shrugged and walked away."
"He's a weird guy..." Sasuke said, frowning slightly.
"Yeah, and he's going to be directing us in the next show." Naruto said, setting their snacks down in front of them, turning the TV and DVD player on, and making himself comfortable on the spot on the sofa next to Sasuke. Their thighs brushed, and Naruto quickly jumped to readjust himself, as though he had been burned. Sasuke didn't comment on it, and Naruto hoped he hadn't noticed.
"You don't know that."
"Sure I do, those parts were practically written for us!" Naruto grinned, pulling his blanket around him as the film began to play. He wanted to extend the blanket to Sasuke too, but refrained from doing so. The play began on the screen before them, featuring what was actually the second scene as the first. Naruto had loved that choice; it made the story flow a lot better.
"If music be the food of love, play on..."
The second scene began, and the character Orsino learned that the woman he was pursuing - Olivia - only wanted to mourn for her dead brother for the next seven years. Sasuke frowned, and shifted in his spot on the sofa, not entirely sure why he felt uncomfortable about the subject, but feeling it strongly anyway; he put it down to the theme of 'dead brothers' being previously mentioned only minutes before in the opening scene, with Viola learning her brother may also be dead.
They remained mostly silent throughout the show, with Sasuke occasionally asking what the Welsh actress was saying; her accent was strong, and the words were confusing enough, so Naruto didn't tease him for it - if he wasn't so familiar with the story and the character himself, he wouldn't have had a clue, either.
"My father had a daughter loved a man, as it might be perhaps, were I a woman, I should your lordship." The character Viola - disguised as a man named Cesario - said to the man she loved, who she worked for as Cesario.
"And what's her history?" Orsino answered, scathingly.
"A blank, my lord. She never told her love, but let concealment, like a worm i'the bud, feed on her damask cheek..."
It was Naruto's turn to shift uncomfortably at this scene, and occasionally stole glances at the man sat next to him.
"She pined in thought, and with a green and yellow melancholy, she sat like Patience on a monument, smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?"
Naruto took his eyes off Sasuke before he noticed, and kept them glued to the screen. He hoped he was the only one who felt the air thick with tension between them, and prayed that his outside didn't reveal what was happening inside.
When the play finished with a dance and a musical number, Naruto was smiling genuinely again, and looked at Sasuke as he clicked off the TV.
"What do you think? Isn't it brilliant?"
"Y-yeah, it was good." Sasuke said, stumbling on his words and clearing his throat. "Orsino and Antonio were both clearly into men." He commented, ignoring the theme that had affected him the most.
"Well, Antonio was obvious, but Orsino?"
"Yeah... you did watch the same play as me right?" Sasuke asked, looking at Naruto with confusion etched on to his face; wasn't it supposed to be Naruto who was the Shakespeare fan, who had watched this play at least twice at this point? "That scene where he gave in to temptation and kissed Cesario - who he thought was a man - alone in his bedroom after smoking something and watching Cesario sing and perform a seductive dance? How he painted a half naked man in his bedroom in the second scene? The director wouldn't have thrown in those little things just for fun; they were hints at how he saw the character."
"Hmmm... Maybe you're right..." Naruto said thoughtfully, then smirked when he remembered all the other signs, too. "Definitely not straight." He concluded. "See! There's always something new to see in Shakespeare's work, I told you he's a genius. Some people say he also had feelings for a man; that probably influenced his work in ways we're probably only just seeing now..."
"Okay, I'll admit that you're right. A genius." Sasuke smiled. Naruto looked back at him, and his breath caught in his throat. If he could just freeze this moment in time, and look at the image of Sasuke sat next to him like this forever; his face lit softly by the lamp in the corner of the room, a small piece of chocolate smeared on the corner of his lip that he wanted to kiss away; even if he could only look, but never touch... Patience on a monument, indeed. He understood those words painfully deep, and his heart ached - like Patience, the stone monument of a woman atop a gravestone, faced only with grief - so sat he watching Sasuke in front of him; close, but not close enough... It was a bitter sweet sensation - this painful mix of love and grief - and Naruto didn't know if he should laugh, or cry.
Well...! Here you have the longest chapter yet. I really enjoyed writing this one - especially the scene with Orochimaru and Karin.
If you're not familiar with Much Ado About Nothing and/or Twelfth Night - they both have quite similar themes; unrequited love, comedy on the back of/on the verge of tragedy, mistaken identities, trickery and deceit, and (in much ado) an enemies-to-lovers scenario. If you've seen She's The Man with Amanda Bynes, that's a modern retelling of Twelfth Night, lol. If you're interested, for Twelfth Night I'd recommend watching the 90s version of that with Helena Bonham Carter in it, or the 2017 version by the RSC that Naruto and Sasuke watched in this chapter, starring Dinita Gohil as Viola/Cesario; they're amazing! (there's also an all male cast version I love from 2013 starring Stephen Fry, which is absolutely freakin hilarious). As for Much Ado, if you're interested, I adore the 90s version with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh but there's also a really fun, theatrical version of it set in the 1980's starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate as the 'enemies-to-lovers' couple (yes, really!)... I suppose I could also give you the link in a PM to watch part of the production of Much Ado that I was in as Margaret... If you're really good and say please ;)
PS; to the reviewer I named Leeinawig who wanted to see Naruto play the guitar; I hope you enjoyed that little scene, as cheesy as it was! :)