Walk On
By RedMirage aka Kei-Chan
Disclaimer: I own nothing! If I did, I wouldn't be here!
Pairings: Sasuke x Naruto, Neji x Naruto, Gaara x Naruto, Zabuza x Haku, Lee x Sakura...others still a secret. :P
Warnings: AU and contains yaoi. Run if you can't stand it.
Rating: PG - 13 but may rise to R later in the story...
Summary:
A teahouse romance... A library romance... And a gathering of two attracted individuals under the Sakura trees at a secret location.With Naruto as the ultimate uke... Who will finally win his heart and body?
Inspired by Kiss wa Ichinichi Sando Made, a yaoi manga by Nabako Kamo.
Chapter 5: Homemade Bento and Tickets to a Photo Exhibition
Neji leaned against one of the pillars in the library with a bento in hand, waiting for Naruto so that they could have their lunch together on the rooftop of the library. He rubbed his temple a little as he thought about the news he had heard this morning that had spread like wildfire throughout the entire campus. He was still rather skeptical about the news of confrontation between Naruto, Tenten and another president of some other guy's fan club. He always knew about Tenten's obsession with him but he did not expect things to become this bad. He was also angry that Tenten had apparently spied on him yet again, even when he had repeatedly warned her against it and felt sorry for Naruto about what happened. After all, girls are troublesome creatures as Shikamaru always said and fangirls are a thousand times worse. He had woke up rather early in the morning and prepared a large bento for their lunch. He just hoped that Naruto would not feel uncomfortable around him after that horrible confrontation. Neji saw a blond cheery face rapidly approaching his direction and felt a great relief that Naruto did not seem to be upset at him. In fact, the blonde was positively beaming at him.
Naruto was practically bouncing to the library in his excitement to meet Neji. He wondered why Neji did not ask to meet at the cafeteria for lunch instead of the library. 'Well, it will be good to take a little stroll to the cafeteria with Neji-san.' he thought happily to himself. He should really thank Gaara some more since it was the redhead who had helped to cheer him up in the morning, despite the unhappy occurrences. 'I will have to treat Gaara to dinner someday!' Naruto decided mentally. As Naruto looked around the library, he spotted Neji leaning against one of the white pillars, looking dapper in a simple yet sophisticated soft blue blouse and a pair of dark gray slacks. 'He really looks good in anything,' Naruto thought to himself as he gave an appreciative glance at Neji's choice of dressing before approaching the man with a smile on his face.
"Neji-san!" Naruto greeted in an enthusiastic soft voice. He did not want to disturb the peace of the library by being too loud.
"Naruto-kun," Neji greeted back with a soft smile.
"So, should we make our way to the cafeteria now?" Naruto asked.
Neji shook his head and tapped the bento in his hand lightly. "Let's go to the rooftop to have our meal that I prepared for us," he said lightly and started to lead Naruto to the staircase that would take them to the rooftop.
Naruto's eyes widened a little when he heard that Neji had specially prepared a bento for their lunch and felt his heart skipped a beat at the older boy's thoughtfulness. He gave a bright adoring smile at the man's back and followed Neji's lead while his stomach gave a low rumble.
Naruto could not believe the view before him. Who knew that the library's rooftop offered such beautiful scenery of the Konoha University? From Naruto's position, he could clearly see the trees and flowers that lined the buildings and sidewalk, creating a harmony of colors with the sun shining down on them. He wondered how the whole scene would change when the sun sets. He felt a hand on his shoulder and the soft baritone of Neji's voice near his ear.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Neji asked quietly.
"Yeah, it is. It's even more amazing that we are the only ones here. Now I understand why you want to have our meal here," Naruto replied, still slightly in awe at the amazing display before him. Somehow, he had a sudden urge to find and drag Gaara and Sasuke to this seemingly unexplored piece of picture-prefect view.
"Everyone is too busy to stop and have a good look at their surroundings. They missed out on many wonderful things that simple beauty of nature had provided us with. Not many people come up here and for me, that was a good thing. I can appreciate this simple beauty of nature better in silence. Shall we start our meal now that we have both the ambiance and wonderful homemade cooking of mine in our presence?" Neji asked with a mockingly deep gentleman voice. He was glad that Naruto had enjoyed the unexpectedly beautiful view and wondered a little to himself when Naruto's opinions had become to mean so much to him.
Naruto laughed a little at what Neji said as he proceeded to sit on a shaded spot provided by the shadow of the building. Neji settled himself opposite of Naruto and took off the cloth and lid of the bento. He grinned as he watched Naruto looking adorably starved and drooling at the grand spread of sushi before him. It felt good to know that his efforts at making some great tasting sushi had paid off. He knew he was good at cooking even though he didn't do it often and he had a housekeeper to cook his meals.
Naruto felt his stomach rumbled louder than ever at the mouth-watering sushi before him. It seemed so well made that he wondered if Neji had really made them himself! He grabbed the chopsticks that Neji handed to him eagerly and shouted a loud "Itadakimasu!" before he droved into the food. Naruto was cupping his cheeks in his hands as he savor the taste of the salmon sushi swirling within his mouth. It tasted superb, though not as good as ramen, which is his favorite food of all time.
"Neji-san, anytime you want to quit from your job as a CEO of your company due to stress issues in the future, promise me you will choose to become a chef as your second choice of career!" Naruto groaned out, as he stuffed himself with some egg sushi.
Neji laughed when he heard Naruto's words. "I'll be sure to kept that compliment and piece of advice in my heart," he said while his hand reached out to ruffle the blonde's head. "So... I heard about what happened this morning..." Neji trailed off and waited to see if Naruto wants to talk to him about what happened.
Naruto stared off into the space at the question and said softly but firmly, "I was angry with those fangirls... but they are impossible to argue with and I just couldn't be bothered. But it's over... or at least I think so. One thing for sure though, is that they can never stop me from being friends with you and Sasuke."
Neji smirked at Naruto's answer. It seems like Naruto had no intention to avoid him in the future because of some stupid, obsessive fangirls so his worry was unfounded. He had long acknowledged that Naruto had gotten through the social barriers that he had put up to discourage others from getting too close to him and had become someone essential and irreplaceable in his life. Uzumaki Naruto had wormed his way into his heart in this short period of time that they had known each other and he would be there to stay. Neji had found someone else other than Hinata to care for and he was happy about it. He picked up a piece of eel sushi with his chopsticks and placed them before Naruto's mouth.
"Try this. It is my specialty," Neji offered.
Naruto stared at the eel sushi before him and blushed as little, noting that Neji was actually feeding him unconsciously. He took the sushi daintily into his mouth from Neji's chopsticks and chew on the sushi somewhat slowly.
"It's delicious!" Naruto said and swallow it down before continuing, "You weren't kidding when you said it is your specialty."
Naruto's blush deepened as he took up a piece of eel sushi also and offered it to Neji. "Y...You should eat more too, Neji-san," he said shyly.
Neji blinked at Naruto's shy tone of voice and give a slight smirk at the blonde's awkwardness before he ate the sushi from Naruto's chopstick too.
"Hmm... Somehow, it tasted even better when you feed me," Neji teased, taking delight that Naruto's face had become red from his comments. The boy was just so fun to mess with!
Naruto kept his silence and stuffed more eel sushi into his mouth while he looked around his surroundings to try to hide his blush. The two men continued eating in comfortable silence, occasionally making small talks and laughing at some of the jokes they shared.
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Naruto had hoped that time would pass slowly so that he could spend more time in the company of Neji. It was a thoroughly enjoyable lunch and Neji was interesting to talk to with his witty comments and sarcastic sense of humor. Naruto grinned as he remembered about how Neji had fed him the eel sushi. That moment was so surreal that if someone were to tell him that he was dreaming it, he would have believed him or her. Naruto glanced sideways to look at Neji and couldn't help but hold his breathe at the sight of Neji with his eyes closed and loose tendrils of hair that had escape the ponytail being teased by the soft breeze. It was beautiful and he felt his heart skipped a beat watching him. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the startling image until he realized that Neji's unusual silvery-white eyes were opened and boring into his own blue eyes.
"You're staring at me. I must be looking really magnificent for you to do that," Neji said lazily, with a smirk on his face.
Naruto laughed sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders before replying softly, "That's because you are magnificent."
Neji halted a little at Naruto's words and felt a slight unfamiliar ache in his stomach. 'Did I just hear that right?' he wondered a little incredulously to himself. He was just teasing Naruto again but the blonde's reply had surprised him. He was about to ask Naruto to elaborate on what he said when the familiar chime of the school's bell indicated the end of lunch hour.
Naruto quickly took this opportunity to suggest that they should go for their lessons soon while cursing at his slip of words. He almost ruined everything. Naruto did not want to think what will happen if Neji were to know about his attraction for him. Not everyone is like Gaara and he did not even know whether Neji is straight, homosexual or a bisexual like him. If he were to be a straight guy, would he be scared off knowing about how Naruto felt for him?
Neji was about to stop Naruto from leaving and to explain when he felt another presence besides them at the rooftop that he did not notice earlier. His eyes narrowed as he said to Naruto, "Naruto, you can go first. I'm waiting for someone here. Let's have another lunch like this together sometime soon, okay?"
Naruto nodded his head at Neji's sudden changed of attitude but decided not to question it. It seemed like Neji was not angry with him but at someone else. He bid his goodbyes and walked towards the exit. Whoever that person was, he should really be careful since Neji sounded a little pissed.
"Stopped hiding and reveal yourself," Neji stated flatly to the empty space before him.
"I see that you have discovered my presence, Neji-sama," a firm female voice said as someone stepped out from within the shadows.
"So, it's you Tenten-san. Why am I not surprised?" Neji remarked sarcastically.
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Uchiha Sasuke was sitting at a table and tapping a pair of tickets lightly as his face was set in a frown. He wanted to ask Naruto out on a date to a photo exhibition with him but was unsure of how he should go about asking. He knew that he had fallen fast and hard for the cute blonde but he had absolutely no idea what Naruto thought of him. He did not have a clue whether the jovial boy is a homosexual like him or just a straight guy. He hoped it was not the latter or he had a feeling he would be suffering from some serious unrequited love-ache. 'At least let him be a bisexual,' he prayed mentally. Sasuke had never felt so strongly for someone. His past relationships were based more on lust than love. On his side, there was probably little or no love at all. But Naruto was different from everyone else he had met. He was captivated at first sight by the blonde and he knew he wanted Naruto in every possible way after their first little chat in the teahouse. Naruto had this happy, vibrant yet calming aura about him and Sasuke was like a moth drawn to a flame, yearning greatly to be under his bright, warm light. He gave a little sigh before he considered his second problem. Itachi had given the tickets to him and he was feeling a little apprehensive about what unnecessary troubles that might entail since the photo exhibition was Itachi's own exhibition. Itachi loved nothing more than to irritate and tease him. He was afraid of the possible humiliations that the eccentric older man might have set him up for. He could not have cared less in the past, but now he wanted Naruto to have a good impression of him. He thought back to the conversation that he had with his older brother and remembered about how the tickets had come into his hands.
=====Flashback =====
Sasuke had been sitting on a couch and staring into space, busy thinking about planning some outings to ask Naruto out to when he had felt a familiar but slightly irritating presence made himself known in the large living room. The next thing he knew, Uchiha Itachi was suddenly hanging onto his shoulders from one side of the couch and ruffling his hair with the other hand. He felt his temper rise as he growled a warning to his brother, "Aniki, stop that or else..."
Itachi had ignored the warning his little brother was giving him and had began playing with the strands of soft, black hair. How he loved to irritate his little brother whose reactions never ceased to entertain him.
"What were you thinking? You seemed to be really engrossed with it too," Itachi had said.
Sasuke gave a defeated sigh, feeling helpless against his brother. His threats and glares had never worked on his brother before. It was as though Itachi had an absolute immunity to it. In fact, if there was anything Uchiha Itachi had besides his talents at photography and everything else, it was nerves of steel and the ability to irritate another and make the victim feel helpless about it, too.
"I was thinking of asking.... a friend of mine out to somewhere." Sasuke had replied carefully. It wasn't necessary for Itachi to know that he was currently in love with someone. He could easily imagine the endless merciless teasing and meddling if he did that.
Itachi had continued playing with Sasuke's hair mindlessly. 'If it was just a friend, Sasuke would never have looked so troubled and thought so hard about asking a normal friend to go out with him,' Itachi had analyzed mentally. It was a known fact that Sasuke had more fans than friends, anyway. Something was up with his baby brother and he was determined to find out. He had suddenly remembered about two tickets that were in his pants pocket and an idea had come to him. Reaching into his pockets, he pulled two slightly crumpled tickets and waved them in his brother's face.
"Sasuke, why don't you ask your friend out to this?" Itachi had said innocently.
Sasuke took the tickets and examined them. "Aren't these tickets to your photo exhibition for this upcoming Sunday?" he asked, his onyx eyes looking at Itachi suspiciously. His brother was up to no good – especially when he was acting innocent.
"Yes they are. I was just thinking that since you were so busy thinking about where to take this friend of yours, these tickets would be of good use to help you solve the problem," Itachi said.
"Well... yes, that's true. With these tickets, I do not need to think more of where to take my friend," Sasuke said slowly. Now, he had a very legitimate reason to ask Naruto out somewhere, whether as a friend or otherwise.
"Yes, that would be great..." Itachi said with a smirk. 'And I can find out for myself just who is this friend that can make Sasuke behave like a schoolgirl with a crush,' he thought gleefully to himself. Oh, he just couldn't wait for it now!
=====End Flashback=====
"Oh well, whatever it is, I'll deal with it. More importantly, I should try finding out if Naruto even likes guys in a romantic manner at all!" he mumbled to himself. If the news of what happened this morning were true, it would make this problem even trickier to solve, seeing how Naruto may actually try to avoid him. 'Damn fangirls!' he thought to himself angrily.
He was so lost in thought that he did not notice someone sneaking up to him from the back at all. Naruto made use of this opportunity to jump onto Sasuke and hang off the taller boy's shoulder just like Itachi did yesterday.
Sasuke, out of reflex, bit out sharply, "Itachi, stop that!"
"Itachi? Who is Itachi?" Naruto asked curiously.
Sasuke jumped a little when he heard Naruto's voice. God, that was so embarrassing. To actually confuse the lovely blonde with that idiot brother of his!
"Um... Itachi is my older brother. He loves doing what you just did," he said. He realized how close Naruto was to him. Naruto smell so good and felt so soft and pliant against his shoulders: it was heavenly!
"Oh... so you don't like this?" Naruto asked. He was about to move away when Sasuke shouted hastily that he didn't mind it as long as he was the one who was doing it. 'Only if you were the one who is doing and you can do it as many times as you like it.' Sasuke emphasized to himself. Naruto blushed cutely at the double meaning that Sasuke's words seemed to imply but still moved away to sit beside the dark-haired man.
"So, what are you doing?" Naruto asked casually. He had spotted Sasuke sitting alone (surprisingly) and looking lost in thoughts and came with the intention to ambush his friend and distract him from whatever he was thinking about.
"Just thinking... So what happened this morning? I heard so many versions of the confrontation but I couldn't be sure which one was true, though they all sound equally bad to me." Sasuke asked, turning to look at Naruto seriously in the eye.
Naruto was surprised to find Sasuke looking so serious and somehow, the raven-haired boy looked really attractive when he was serious.
"It's just some of those unreasonable fangirls. They seem to think that I'll give in to their threats and stop associating with you and Neji-san. Like that's ever gonna happen!" Naruto said with a snort.
Sasuke was happy to hear that Naruto was not going to avoid him anytime soon, unless the earlier scenario he had thought was about happen. However, he felt his spirits slightly dampened when he heard Neji's name. 'Seems like another contender for Naruto's heart,' he thought sullenly.
Seeing Sasuke smile a little before pouting fully, Naruto couldn't help but think about how cute and funny he was looking like that and laughed out loud at it. Sasuke felt his unhappiness go away at hearing Naruto's laughter. The younger boy's happiness is so contagious!
Making use of this opportunity, Sasuke gathered his courage and asked Naruto the question he had been planning to ask.
"Naruto, will you go out with me this Sunday afternoon to a photo exhibition?" Sasuke asked in a slight rush and waited with abated breath for the boy's answer.
Naruto thought a little about his schedule on Sunday before he grinned and said, "Sure! I only work on the morning shifts on Sundays, so I'll be able to go with you. Whose photo exhibition is it?"
Sasuke almost made a show of victory upon hearing Naruto's reply. The small blonde had agreed to his date so spontaneously and easily, Sasuke thought he should have just asked the boy straight out from the start without to worrying so much! He frowned a little upon hearing Naruto's question as he remembered exactly whose photo exhibition they were going to.
"We're going to my brother's photo exhibition. I think you have heard the name Uchiha Itachi before..." Sasuke answered a little uneasily. Would Naruto start comparing him to his brother now that he know that Sasuke was the little brother of the great photographer, Uchiha Itachi? Sasuke hoped not or he would be thoroughly disappointed and utterly depressed that his judgment on Naruto was wrong and he turned out to be like everyone else.
"Uchiha Itachi! I knew that name sounded familiar. I have seen his works before. It was top-class but I didn't know you were related to him!" Naruto said with excitement.
Sasuke felt his heart dropped into the pit of his stomach upon hearing Naruto's words. 'He's the same. Soon, he will start the comparing," he thought to himself. He felt misery setting in with the thoughts that the Naruto was just like everyone else. However, it hurt so much more coming from the blonde whom he had fallen so hopelessly in love with.
Naruto was oblivious to Sasuke's display of unhappiness and continued speaking, "But both of you have such different styles of taking pictures and they are all unique in its own way. I thought that Sasuke's scenery works was absolutely amazing. "White" is a great example of that! Itachi-san is fantastic with human photography. I guess that was the way it was supposed to be because Sasuke-kun and Itachi-san are two completely different people, right?"
Sasuke stared a little wide-eye at Naruto as the blonde continued talking. For everything he had been expecting from Naruto at that moment, those comments were definitely not one of them! He felt a burst of pride at Naruto's indirect compliments. The blonde had really thought that he was good and had talked about Itachi and him as two separate entities. Was it any more possible for him to fall for the blonde even harder than he already did? Now, all he had to find out was if Naruto could possibly be attracted to guys and he decided that the coming Sunday would be the day where he would ask one of the most important questions of his life.
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"Neji-sama, you may think badly of what I'm about to say but I really think you should distance yourself from that Naruto. He is not good enough for you," Tenten said slowly but firmly. She could sense Neji's anger but she would not back down this time. Her threats on that aggravating blond had not worked. Since that was so, she supposed she could try to get Neji to see that Naruto was not good for him instead. That way, the blonde would be unable to do anything more to cling to a disinterested Neji. She had to get Neji to see things her way or the state of this matter could become worse – for her. She had watched from the shadows jealously in silence how the two men and interact and wished fervently that one day, such a scene would be about Neji and her instead. But so far, Neji had been nothing been cool indifference and politeness to her and was sometimes just plain irritated by her too.
Neji felt his temper flare at Tenten's words. That girl had a malicious mouth. Naruto had been nothing but innocent and sweet. He has never done anything against Tenten and the girl was accusing the poor boy of being not good enough?!
Neji narrowed his eyes and spoke, trying to hold back his anger, "Tenten-san, how much do you know about Naruto-kun to speak about him in such lowly manner? Perhaps the Naruto you are referring to is someone different from the one I know. The Naruto-kun I know is a wonderful brilliant young man whom I like very much and has become a precious friend. Continue with your nonsense and I wouldn't hesitate to retaliate, disregard of whether you are a woman or not!" His tone became so quiet with underlying anger that Tenten felt herself shivered at the very real threat that her beloved Neji-sama was directing at her. However, she doggedly attempted to try to win him over to her side again.
"Neji-sama, all I'm doing is trying to look out for you! You deserve nothing but the very best and I can sense that that guy is nothing but bad news. Call it a woman's intuition. That boy may be the heir to the Uzu Empire but without the money and status, he has nothing good enough to be with you!"
'Fangirls are really unreasonable to talk to, Naruto-kun.' Neji thought with an inward smirk.
"Bad news? That may be so for you. You're jealous, aren't you? I know you like me, Tenten-san but bear in mind that I'll never feel the same for you. Like you said, without money and status, Naruto may be nothing. However, if that were to be so and if I were to become like that too, I most probably would be even worse than Naruto. Also, you should stop your spying on Naruto and I. I do not wish for what special moments that Naruto and I shared becoming a part of your mindless, perverted obsession. Even if I were to let your worst fear come true and fall in love with Naruto, you still have no business interfering with us. I'll say it again. If you, in any way, try to ruin our friendship or try to hurt Naruto-kun, you will be very sorry. Do you understand?" Neji said in a cold voice. Without waiting for an answer from the now heartbroken and shell-shocked fangirl, Neji swiftly left the rooftop.
'That dumb blonde must have influenced Neji-sama to say such cruel words,' Tenten thought stubbornly. "Well, two can play at this game. Just you wait, Uzumaki Naruto. I'll play the game and win! I will make sure you regret ever crossing me!" Tenten said in low unsuppressed fury into the empty space, her fists turning nearly white from clenching too tightly.
Somewhere, a blonde sneezed several times without any reason and wondered if he was coming down with a cold.
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Naruto was making his way home from school at a slow pace after his long chat with Sasuke, fully enjoying the fresh air of the early evening. He thought about the photo exhibition he would be going with Sasuke to and wondered what he should wear since the exhibition was held by Sasuke's brother, Uchiha Itachi, the world-renowned photographer! 'Casual or formal? Or a mix?' he mulled over the question mentally. It did not take long for him to give up thinking about that problem and decided to call Sasuke about it later instead. He entered through the backdoor and called out "I'm home" softly before he headed to his room. The face that greeted Naruto in his room took him by utter surprise. "Sh... Shino!"
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TBC
Next Chapter: Who exactly is Shino? Why was he in Naruto's room? Sasuke and Naruto on a romantic date! Will anything happen? What will Itachi do? XD
I'm working on a new Naruto fic too. Pairing is SasuNaru. I will try to update as fast as possible seeing how much I like to receive reviews on my stories. ;)
Plot and character mumbles:
This chapter is more about what happens after Naruto finds out about his sexual orientation while the rest of the guys, with the exception of Gaara, are still in the dark about it. Naruto also didn't know if the rest of the guys were into men as well. Gay radar doesn't work in this story. XD
The little romantic lunch of Neji and Naruto is something I enjoy writing so I hope readers enjoy reading them too.
No character profiles for this chapter...
Reviews:
As always, thanks to IceHeart19 and Teki Star for helping to beta!
Thanks to Yasai-chan, Kamikakushi, Sierra-Falls, Gi wo mite sezaru wa ya n (foamy), RuByMoOn17, chi, izumi, Yaoilover S and The Sisters of Chaos (wolf) for your reviews. That was some really great reviews I got from all of you!
IceHeart19: So sorry for all my delays... but I'm glad you like this chapter. I've lost sleep for it.
Yasai-chan: This chapter is longer and I'm glad you like what I did on the last chapter.
Kamikakushi: This chapter is longer and I hope better. All my characters are so artistic... and I was having dreams about Naruto being with Neji on Monday and Wednesday, Sasuke on Tuesday and Friday, Gaara on Thursday and Saturday and on Sunday, they all jump into the same bed together. ;;;
Sierra-Falls: I'm always writing when I'm not doing school stuff and sneaking off to read yaoi. Lets hope that my eyes will not stray too much to my yaoi manga again, ne?
Please R&R!
