Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, just this fiction. It is enough.
Naruto/Sasuke, Kakashi/Iruka pairings
Yaoi
Rated: R
By: Sunstrike
Chapter Three Absorbing The Demon
After Naruto got out of the shower he dried off and climbed into what he now noticed were borrowed clothes. He winced when he realized that his old normal clothes, namely the shirt, the only one he had that still fit, had been covered with blood. Then he realized that Iruka had carried him through the town half naked! He moaned. If any one had seen him it would be over. Bad enough that Kakashi saw, now everyone would know. He sighed, worry about that later, back to the problem of no shirts.
Either he was going to have to get some new clothes all together or be on a permanent trade with Iruka. And as opposed to how he was before, he really didn't like to be indebted to anyone, (just the thought of how much he already owed Iruka made his stomach churn), he decided that he would have to go home and break the piggy bank open early. He would probably only be able to afford some normal pants and a blank shirt, but maybe he could put his artistic skills to work. He was sure that he had some fabric paint and he knew he had a sewing kit.
Sadly enough, in the past he had to do that with all his other clothes just to keep up with the fashion of kids his age. It was ironic how he wanted to stand out with his personality and skills and yet still wanted to have normal clothes. With his thoughts wandering along those lines he didn't realize his feet had taken him into the kitchen.
"Good morning Naruto." The boy blinked and then looked down, a slight blush creeping to his cheeks. Iruka had woken up and was rummaging around in the cabinets for breakfast. He was actually balancing on an open drawer and munching on a piece of toast, wearing nothing but the pyjama bottoms he had gone to bed in. Naruto wondered if his teacher, or, thinking of Kakashi, for that matter any adults, really had any dignity at all.
"Morning, 'ruka." Finishing eating, Iruka bent backwards until he was looking at Naruto upside down.
"From that rather depressing response I can only conclude that you still feel like crap, so I won't ask how you are." Naruto snorted and managed a grin. If Iruka only knew.
"What do you want for breakfast?" But Naruto was already shaking his head.
"Not hungry," The older man jumped down and looked at him with concern.
"Still feel sick to your stomach, too, huh? All right then, we'll leave off breakfast, but you're going to have to eat something eventually if you want to get better. Okay, Naruto?" The boy nodded absently in response and sat down. He wet his lips slightly with thought, should he ask Iruka-sensei whom he liked? Would that embarrass the teacher too much?
To hell with it.
"Iruka-sensei," the teacher looked up from his bowel of cornflakes.
"Hmmm?"
Naruto looked down at the wooden table and his hands, one bandaged and the other fine. He couldn't back out now.
"Do you, ummm, do you," He swallowed and looked up and straight into soft brown eyes. "Iruka-sensei, do you like someone?" At any other time Naruto would have laughed at the expression that came over Iruka's face, the solid shock akin to having a brick wall slammed into the face.
The man blinked a few times and then remembered that he had a full mouth and began to chew thoughtfully. This was, unexpected, to say the least. He vaguely wondered how the hell Naruto had guessed. The boy wasn't known to be particularly adept at noticing these kinds of things.
Then he realized how much older Naruto had gotten, and that he had no idea what to do next. It was so easy to think of the young boy in front of him as that tiny person he taught so long ago, as opposed to the young man he now was. Iruka mentally kicked himself. Of course Naruto was noticing these things, probably felt something for someone himself.
But, if he found out that Iruka was a bit, odd, what would his reaction be? Iruka couldn't even really confirm his feelings yet, how would Naruto feel if he dumped the lot on the poor boy's shoulders? He'd both think I was a freak and never talk to me again, or he'd accept.
Due to Naruto's own experiences with rejection he didn't think that the bright curious person across from him would mind, but he couldn't be absolutely sure. This was a lot to think about before coffee.
"It's okay if you don't want to answer, sensei-" Blink, oh yeah, how long had he been thinking?
"No, no, it's ok, Naruto. Just, unexpected." Ok lets try the vague approach.
"Yeah, I guess I like someone. I'm not really sure, though, because I don't know if he feels that way back." Iruka had to mentally pat himself on the back as Naruto's blue eyes shone, and took a sip of coffee.
"Me, too! I mean, it's really hard to tell isn't it?" The teacher nodded sagely. So he had been right. Naruto was interested in someone as well, wait, did he still have a crush on Sakura? If that were the case maybe it would be best to remain cloudy on the whole issue of whom he actually liked. He got up and stretched.
"I'd like to continue this discussion all day, Naruto but I have to get dressed and go to class. We'll talk about it later ok?" The boy grinned.
"You just want to find out who I like, don't you." It wasn't really a question and Iruka raised an eyebrow. "If I can guess who you like Iruka- sensei, you buy dinner ok?" That seemed like a fair trade off to Naruto, it was winning a bet, not begging for handouts. Iruka laughed.
"Ok but if I guess first the same applies to you." Naruto nodded happily. He could win this, he was sure. He slowly got up from the table and walked to the door.
"Don't forget ok?"
Iruka laughed.
"I'll try not to Naruto, see you later."
The young, blond headed man blinked as he stepped out into the autumn air and grinned. His teacher had said,
"I don't know if, he, feels that way back."
He, huh. Naruto chuckled. This was going to be an eventful season.
````````````````
Half an hour later everything that had been broken and spilt had been fixed and cleaned up. Naruto winced at the amount of blood all over everything. I'm surprised that I'm still standing here and not lying half dead in the infirmary, he thought, in a bit of a daze. He had always been rather lucky in the fact that he healed at a faster rate then normal people. He snorted. Truthfully though, he would have really done without the whole demon thing, never mind the perks.
He hunched down on his bed and slowly counted out the money he had. He had used most of it to go on his little jaunt to the seaside and had scarcely enough left over for food, let alone clothing. Naruto sighed, better hungry then naked. Although it did worry him that he still didn't feel like eating. It wasn't quite like Iruka-sensei had said, that Naruto was sick to the stomach, he just wasn't hungry. He should be ravenous after losing everything yesterday and not having anything today. He shook his head softly to clear it, he would think about that later, right now he had to leave so he could get changed and have half a chance to see what Kakashi and the others were up to. Sakura and Sasuke should be back from their mission now. He scooped it all out and headed down to the store.
Once there he managed to find a decent pair of black jeans and an orange long-sleeved shirt that he felt would be up to the task of becoming his new outfit for a while. Slowly walking back to his house he thought about the bet with Iruka, and snickered. Who could his teacher possibly like so much that he was dreaming about them? Who was he in contact with most often? Then an awful thought came into Naruto's head. Could it be?
"Oh yuck." He took a mental step back. No, no he couldn't possibly think like that, besides, the current Hokage was too old.
"I'm going to have nightmares about that one."
"About which one?" The hackles on Naruto's neck shot up as a voice came softly from behind him. Slowly, he turned around to look at his long time rival and, until just before he left, his friend.
Sasuke had gotten tall, very tall. The blond boy gulped as he was suddenly reminded of Itachi, a towering dark person, until he saw those cold black eyes that looked vaguely disinterested, even though Sasuke had asked a rather direct question. Itachi's had been the mad red of the sharingan.
His skin was still pale as death, and his pitch-black hair stood out in its usual fashion, making him look like an unkempt porcelain doll. An extremely deadly one. A small smirk played along the other boys face although it didn't reach those cold glass eyes.
"So then, Naruto, have you learned how to be any less a, distraction?" A cold lump formed in the pit of Naruto's stomach and he felt slightly sick.
A distraction, that's all he had ever been to the person whom he actually felt something for. Naruto couldn't believe that Sasuke was still willing to think of him that way, even after all this time. It was true that his dark haired rival had bailed him out a number of times, but the same could have been said for Naruto saving Sasuke. It's just that no one seemed to notice. He had been so sick and tired of all the wavering attention back and forth between the two of them that the last time Sasuke had called him a, distraction, he had left for a month. He had needed the time to sort out everything and warring with his inner, hah, demons over Sasuke couldn't have been handled by being in a crowd. Now he was staring up at the other boy again and every emotion came back as though it had never been settled. Suddenly the other boy sighed and with out any warning he reached over and gave him a small flick on the forehead.
"Idiot, try to get better soon, ok?" And he walked off, back to whatever business he had been travelling to in the first place. Naruto blinked after him. What the hell?
His feet finally started to move and carried him home. He didn't notice anything on the way back because he was deep in thought. How cryptic could that guy get? First, Sasuke says something to him that he probably knows hurts the hell out of Naruto, and then he tells him to get better!
Naruto was still stunned over the way the beautiful young boy had grown more then him. Damnit, I'm always going to be shorter aren't I? Not that he minded really, it was just something to think about as opposed to the little butterflies in his stomach that were telling him to jump Sasuke, drag him to a bed, and have his way with the dark cold one. Naruto snorted. Oh yeah, that would go down really well with Sasuke. He'd absolutely kill me, after cutting off bits that I need. He groaned mentally when he realized that he should probably just spend the rest of his life under a cold tap.
Freezing showers may be a bit painful but they were a godsend to a teenage boy trying to suppress unwanted emotions.
Although lately he always seemed a bit on the warmer side.
Chapter Three Absorbing The Demon
After Naruto got out of the shower he dried off and climbed into what he now noticed were borrowed clothes. He winced when he realized that his old normal clothes, namely the shirt, the only one he had that still fit, had been covered with blood. Then he realized that Iruka had carried him through the town half naked! He moaned. If any one had seen him it would be over. Bad enough that Kakashi saw, now everyone would know. He sighed, worry about that later, back to the problem of no shirts.
Either he was going to have to get some new clothes all together or be on a permanent trade with Iruka. And as opposed to how he was before, he really didn't like to be indebted to anyone, (just the thought of how much he already owed Iruka made his stomach churn), he decided that he would have to go home and break the piggy bank open early. He would probably only be able to afford some normal pants and a blank shirt, but maybe he could put his artistic skills to work. He was sure that he had some fabric paint and he knew he had a sewing kit.
Sadly enough, in the past he had to do that with all his other clothes just to keep up with the fashion of kids his age. It was ironic how he wanted to stand out with his personality and skills and yet still wanted to have normal clothes. With his thoughts wandering along those lines he didn't realize his feet had taken him into the kitchen.
"Good morning Naruto." The boy blinked and then looked down, a slight blush creeping to his cheeks. Iruka had woken up and was rummaging around in the cabinets for breakfast. He was actually balancing on an open drawer and munching on a piece of toast, wearing nothing but the pyjama bottoms he had gone to bed in. Naruto wondered if his teacher, or, thinking of Kakashi, for that matter any adults, really had any dignity at all.
"Morning, 'ruka." Finishing eating, Iruka bent backwards until he was looking at Naruto upside down.
"From that rather depressing response I can only conclude that you still feel like crap, so I won't ask how you are." Naruto snorted and managed a grin. If Iruka only knew.
"What do you want for breakfast?" But Naruto was already shaking his head.
"Not hungry," The older man jumped down and looked at him with concern.
"Still feel sick to your stomach, too, huh? All right then, we'll leave off breakfast, but you're going to have to eat something eventually if you want to get better. Okay, Naruto?" The boy nodded absently in response and sat down. He wet his lips slightly with thought, should he ask Iruka-sensei whom he liked? Would that embarrass the teacher too much?
To hell with it.
"Iruka-sensei," the teacher looked up from his bowel of cornflakes.
"Hmmm?"
Naruto looked down at the wooden table and his hands, one bandaged and the other fine. He couldn't back out now.
"Do you, ummm, do you," He swallowed and looked up and straight into soft brown eyes. "Iruka-sensei, do you like someone?" At any other time Naruto would have laughed at the expression that came over Iruka's face, the solid shock akin to having a brick wall slammed into the face.
The man blinked a few times and then remembered that he had a full mouth and began to chew thoughtfully. This was, unexpected, to say the least. He vaguely wondered how the hell Naruto had guessed. The boy wasn't known to be particularly adept at noticing these kinds of things.
Then he realized how much older Naruto had gotten, and that he had no idea what to do next. It was so easy to think of the young boy in front of him as that tiny person he taught so long ago, as opposed to the young man he now was. Iruka mentally kicked himself. Of course Naruto was noticing these things, probably felt something for someone himself.
But, if he found out that Iruka was a bit, odd, what would his reaction be? Iruka couldn't even really confirm his feelings yet, how would Naruto feel if he dumped the lot on the poor boy's shoulders? He'd both think I was a freak and never talk to me again, or he'd accept.
Due to Naruto's own experiences with rejection he didn't think that the bright curious person across from him would mind, but he couldn't be absolutely sure. This was a lot to think about before coffee.
"It's okay if you don't want to answer, sensei-" Blink, oh yeah, how long had he been thinking?
"No, no, it's ok, Naruto. Just, unexpected." Ok lets try the vague approach.
"Yeah, I guess I like someone. I'm not really sure, though, because I don't know if he feels that way back." Iruka had to mentally pat himself on the back as Naruto's blue eyes shone, and took a sip of coffee.
"Me, too! I mean, it's really hard to tell isn't it?" The teacher nodded sagely. So he had been right. Naruto was interested in someone as well, wait, did he still have a crush on Sakura? If that were the case maybe it would be best to remain cloudy on the whole issue of whom he actually liked. He got up and stretched.
"I'd like to continue this discussion all day, Naruto but I have to get dressed and go to class. We'll talk about it later ok?" The boy grinned.
"You just want to find out who I like, don't you." It wasn't really a question and Iruka raised an eyebrow. "If I can guess who you like Iruka- sensei, you buy dinner ok?" That seemed like a fair trade off to Naruto, it was winning a bet, not begging for handouts. Iruka laughed.
"Ok but if I guess first the same applies to you." Naruto nodded happily. He could win this, he was sure. He slowly got up from the table and walked to the door.
"Don't forget ok?"
Iruka laughed.
"I'll try not to Naruto, see you later."
The young, blond headed man blinked as he stepped out into the autumn air and grinned. His teacher had said,
"I don't know if, he, feels that way back."
He, huh. Naruto chuckled. This was going to be an eventful season.
````````````````
Half an hour later everything that had been broken and spilt had been fixed and cleaned up. Naruto winced at the amount of blood all over everything. I'm surprised that I'm still standing here and not lying half dead in the infirmary, he thought, in a bit of a daze. He had always been rather lucky in the fact that he healed at a faster rate then normal people. He snorted. Truthfully though, he would have really done without the whole demon thing, never mind the perks.
He hunched down on his bed and slowly counted out the money he had. He had used most of it to go on his little jaunt to the seaside and had scarcely enough left over for food, let alone clothing. Naruto sighed, better hungry then naked. Although it did worry him that he still didn't feel like eating. It wasn't quite like Iruka-sensei had said, that Naruto was sick to the stomach, he just wasn't hungry. He should be ravenous after losing everything yesterday and not having anything today. He shook his head softly to clear it, he would think about that later, right now he had to leave so he could get changed and have half a chance to see what Kakashi and the others were up to. Sakura and Sasuke should be back from their mission now. He scooped it all out and headed down to the store.
Once there he managed to find a decent pair of black jeans and an orange long-sleeved shirt that he felt would be up to the task of becoming his new outfit for a while. Slowly walking back to his house he thought about the bet with Iruka, and snickered. Who could his teacher possibly like so much that he was dreaming about them? Who was he in contact with most often? Then an awful thought came into Naruto's head. Could it be?
"Oh yuck." He took a mental step back. No, no he couldn't possibly think like that, besides, the current Hokage was too old.
"I'm going to have nightmares about that one."
"About which one?" The hackles on Naruto's neck shot up as a voice came softly from behind him. Slowly, he turned around to look at his long time rival and, until just before he left, his friend.
Sasuke had gotten tall, very tall. The blond boy gulped as he was suddenly reminded of Itachi, a towering dark person, until he saw those cold black eyes that looked vaguely disinterested, even though Sasuke had asked a rather direct question. Itachi's had been the mad red of the sharingan.
His skin was still pale as death, and his pitch-black hair stood out in its usual fashion, making him look like an unkempt porcelain doll. An extremely deadly one. A small smirk played along the other boys face although it didn't reach those cold glass eyes.
"So then, Naruto, have you learned how to be any less a, distraction?" A cold lump formed in the pit of Naruto's stomach and he felt slightly sick.
A distraction, that's all he had ever been to the person whom he actually felt something for. Naruto couldn't believe that Sasuke was still willing to think of him that way, even after all this time. It was true that his dark haired rival had bailed him out a number of times, but the same could have been said for Naruto saving Sasuke. It's just that no one seemed to notice. He had been so sick and tired of all the wavering attention back and forth between the two of them that the last time Sasuke had called him a, distraction, he had left for a month. He had needed the time to sort out everything and warring with his inner, hah, demons over Sasuke couldn't have been handled by being in a crowd. Now he was staring up at the other boy again and every emotion came back as though it had never been settled. Suddenly the other boy sighed and with out any warning he reached over and gave him a small flick on the forehead.
"Idiot, try to get better soon, ok?" And he walked off, back to whatever business he had been travelling to in the first place. Naruto blinked after him. What the hell?
His feet finally started to move and carried him home. He didn't notice anything on the way back because he was deep in thought. How cryptic could that guy get? First, Sasuke says something to him that he probably knows hurts the hell out of Naruto, and then he tells him to get better!
Naruto was still stunned over the way the beautiful young boy had grown more then him. Damnit, I'm always going to be shorter aren't I? Not that he minded really, it was just something to think about as opposed to the little butterflies in his stomach that were telling him to jump Sasuke, drag him to a bed, and have his way with the dark cold one. Naruto snorted. Oh yeah, that would go down really well with Sasuke. He'd absolutely kill me, after cutting off bits that I need. He groaned mentally when he realized that he should probably just spend the rest of his life under a cold tap.
Freezing showers may be a bit painful but they were a godsend to a teenage boy trying to suppress unwanted emotions.
Although lately he always seemed a bit on the warmer side.
