Ok. The eighth chapter is REAL late, but your willing to forgive me, right? For a really late Christmas present? Ah, whatever. It's all ok XD;. Oh well. I'll just start off with the quick things, ok?
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters in this story are mine. They all belong to the maker of Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto. And, seriously, if I claimed them, what could you take? You can't take the dog XD;; Kyuubi-kun doesn't want you too XD. ((KK: Damn straight I don't. Dogs are cute and cuddly and they sometimes bite me, but it's all good. It means I got another battle scar to show off to hot chicks!))
WARNING: This contains shounen-ai/yaoi. Meaning that it's boyXboy love and sex. The good stuff XD.
OOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo- separates first from second part
O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O- End Chapter
-Hands out candy canes and yaoi manga to everyone- That's for Christmas, however late it is ;.
AND Thanks for reviewing!!!
Now, on with the chapter!
Put me Out
Chapter Eight: I Wonder
"In appearance, he looks like my friend, acts like my friend, loves me like a friend. But he hates me, and I hate him, and both sides know it."
-Allison McIntyre
He didn't want to cry anymore, didn't want to feel something running down his cheeks, wearing him down even more. He didn't want that to happen because he hated being beaten down into a quivering ball of nerves and muscles and bones and whatever the hell was in a body. He didn't care to think right now, because his heart hurt, his head hurt, his whole body hurt, and he just wanted to get out of here. He wanted to be in a place where he didn't hurt.
But he couldn't, not with a hand on his back and skin under him and everything that was supposed to be wrong near him, and he didn't really think it wrong, not really. Just wrong in the sense that it would make everything else wrong, make everything else hate him more and more and more until he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't want that to happen, but it would – the hand on his back proved that to him.
And words were flowing over him, trying to soothe him, but it was soothing him as much as rain did to a raging sea. And, for once in his life, he was the more dominant of the two, and he didn't care, still, because he was crying, still, and, damn it, why couldn't he stop crying?!
He couldn't, he wanted too so badly, but Sasuke was still holding him down, smothering with something he wasn't used too (He didn't want to call it love, didn't want to give a name to the ugly thing, the thing that would ruin his life, as this would eventually do. He knew that would happen because everything good in his life had turned to evil in the end – and he didn't want to lose this, didn't want this do become evil. Therefore, it couldn't happen to begin with, or it would go evil.). And he wanted to go. He wanted to run so, so badly.
But then hands were moving him off skin, and for a second, he felt a sense of regret and longing, and then, like lightning, the feeling was replaced by fear. What was Sasuke doing?! He didn't want the raven-haired boy to see his face! He didn't want anyone seeing him; he wanted to be a ghost! He wanted to float away and forget, because ghosts lived too long to remember everything, right? So he would forget and forget everything.
And then he was staring into swirling black and red eyes, the Sharingan wheels spinning wildly. But he knew the wheels weren't trying to see his chakra, and he wondered what Sasuke was doing, before the wheels slowly stopped and a voice, silky smooth and free of ice, hatred, worry, calm, and everything he wasn't right now, spoke, flowed from his friend's (lover's, friend's, rival's, enemy's?) mouth, and he forgot where he was for a second.
"Naruto?" the voice asked, in a slow and steady, yet a voice of concern under everything else. "Naruto, why are you crying?"
And he couldn't answer that, because he remembered where he was now, of course, and he didn't want to be crying. Crying was bad, shinobi didn't cry, demons didn't cry, he was sick of crying.
"Naruto?" the voice asked again – his voice.
Hands were shaking his shoulders lightly, and he realized he was looking at the ground. He realized that Sasuke did have a scar, a pearly white scar near his elbow that looked like a half circle. And he refused to speak, because he was admiring Sasuke's perfect scar. It was not even out of shape, just a perfect half circle, like Sasuke was, except Sasuke was perfect, not like him at all.
But he couldn't admire the scar anymore, because there was something crawling on his cheek, little bugs that felt gross and that hurt. He noticed that he was now staring at the darkened window, sunlight shining weakly through the little lines on the side, where the curtain barely blocked them out. The bugs on his cheek still hurt, more like nails now, and he wondered what had happened in the moment he was staring at Sasuke's scar. Had Sasuke slapped him, of all the silly things the Uchiha could do?
Yes, because he heard a soft 'shhhhh' sound, like air being let out of a balloon and his face was now towards his. Sasuke's, and the wheels were spinning around wildly. He could do nothing but stare at them. They were really pretty if you stared at them long enough.
"Snap out of it, idiot. Wake up!"
The voice was the thing that brought him out of his reverie, and he noticed that the boy in front of him still hated him, because he had called him 'idiot', but a voice in his head asked, did Sasuke really hate him, with that worried voice?
He hoped so, and hoped not, and hoped that his head wouldn't hurt as much. But he needed to speak, get the taste of tears out of his mouth, and get rid of the other taste, the taste he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Yeah, asshole. I'm awake."
His voice made it even more real, like he had established to himself before, but he couldn't understand. Even with all of this in front of him, he couldn't understand.
"Good."
His boxers were thrown at him, and he stared at the weird little pictures on them before looking at his companion, eyes confused. Sasuke was getting dressed, and he guessed he was supposed to do the same, and all the fear and confusion left him, and everything was gone for a second except a tiny confusion. It was that kind of confusion that was like an itch you couldn't scratch, no matter how much you reached to it. It was the kind that you felt all the time, that he felt all the time. Because, yeah, was he supposed to be dressing?
Eyes, black this time, not red or swirling or anything, looked over at him, looked over at him with the weirdest expression on his face. Naruto had to glare lightly, question why Sasuke's face was more annoyed than worried, or lustful, or any of the feelings he was before he wasn't Sasuke last night. However, he couldn't wonder, because a command to put his boxers and pants on was issued. He followed it with out thinking, because he wasn't one for thinking. As he sat there shirtless after and stared at Sasuke, who was finger combing his hair, he had to wonder why the teen was such a girl, but he wasn't thinking much. After all, thinking wasn't something that he liked to do.
Sasuke caught his stare and sighed, came over and suddenly hugged him, and this confused him more. It was confusing because it made him think. Why was Sasuke hugging him?
His thoughts rained down upon him once again, came in a pain-twisting panic, because Sasuke said something that he shouldn't have, said something that caused him to think.
"I love you, you know that, right?"
That was what Sasuke had said that set him off, like a sound in the dark, and an elbow, his, he was sure, came out and jabbed Sasuke in the stomach, an awful, wrenching jab that made him sick as the boy fell down and coughed. He fled. He was out of the door, away from his thoughts, away from that room, away from Sasuke.
The door was such a small obstacle when you could just burst through it, even if it was locked, and it reminded him of how he had too often do that when he needed something desperately and stole it, and he needed his dignity and pride desperately, needed to get out, get out, GET OUT!
There were nails running down his knee, causing him to wince worse then the pain in his back, but he continued to run. He jumped away from the hell behind him, landing on the nearest rooftop. He could feel his chakra urging him, goading him away from the raven behind him, and he wanted to get away, because words repeated in his mind.
'Come. on, Naruto. Scream my name.'
'Naruto?'
'A little hot, Naruto?'
'I love you, you know that, right?'
And God! That voice, so soft and calm and smooth, it was killing him, haunting him, he wanted to get away!
He couldn't love a boy named Sasuke.
A boy named Sasuke couldn't love him.
A girl named Hinata shouldn't be half dead.
Something named time should have never passed.
Why couldn't everything leave him alone?
Now he couldn't just fall into the ground and sob, or scream, because sobbing and crying were weak. He couldn't be Hokage that way! He couldn't be anything that way. He couldn't be himself that way.
But when his foot caught on a rock, a small bump in his path, he was surprised, because he was supposed to be running, not falling, not screaming, not huddling into a ball and screaming so, so loudly.
He was screaming loud enough so that he couldn't hear that voice - that voice that haunted him. He couldn't hear or feel or see anything that touched his shoulder or his ears or his eyes. This was too hard, hard was too hard, everything was so hard!
"Naruto?"
OOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
His personal mission for that moment was to find out why Sasuke was being such an asshole.
Yeah, sure, it was 2:48 am and this was probably not the best time to wake up a bastard named Uchiha that was generally always pissed off, anyway. But he needed to get some sleep sometime this night! He had been tossing and turning and basically worrying over both of his teammates. Because Sasuke seemed to have a real dislike over the girl ninja (even though there was no reason why, in his mind, anyway), and Sasuke himself. Why had the other boy just. stormed off like that? It wasn't as if he was doing anything bad. Just smiling at the girl who was helping him. Helping him being the keyword there. Stupid bastard.
Quickly locking his door and slipping the key into his zipper pocket, a yawn escaped his mouth. That bastard had better answer his door, or Naruto would go on a killing spree. Sleep sounded so good right now. But he had to do his mission. To find out why the bastard had stormed off.
With that thought in mind, he jumped onto the nearest rooftop and started running.
Another soft land on a random roof, and he was a bit closer, progressing fast. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about going over to the ice-prince's house. He was feeling the far opposite, in fact. But he needed some stupid sleep!
All too soon, he found himself standing on the last rooftop on a long line of houses, body directly facing the visible roofing of the Uchiha mansion. The tall building looking magnificent from the distance. Hell, that clan had been rich. You could tell by the trees, for Christ sake! They probably had just used genjutsu and it was really an ugly, broken down house with dead trees surrounding it, and had made a scroll before they were wiped out to keep it looking so beautiful.
A chuckle escaped his lips and he jumped forward, landing on a tree branch with a shake of the tree itself. Maybe he'd try finding the scroll that did that someday! He could steal it and make his place look better then the Uchiha mansion! Then he could laugh at Sasuke.
He did laugh out loud after that thought, jumping down from the branch. He'd walk instead of jumping from tree branch to tree branch. It would be faster by tree, sure, but who said he wanted to get there fast? As previously stated, who would want to go visit the ice-prince at such an ungodly hour?
While, probably some fan girls (and no way in hell was he one), to see the black-haired teen in his PJs, but, whatever. He was there solely to figure out why the ninja had run off like that. If he couldn't find that out, he could take some pictures of the Uchiha and sell it to all of the rabid fan girls of his! Not minding that he didn't have a camera, but, hey, he could dream. He should have been doing it right than, anyway!
Light footsteps broke the air with his breathing as he walked, brow furrowed, as he thought hard, mind going back to a previous question. Why would Sasuke run off like that? It wasn't like he and Hinata had been doing stuff (a bright blush lit his face at that thought, not because of the picture, but because of the embarrassment he'd suffer if Sasuke had ever saw something like that). They had just been smiling at each other. He was glad Hinata was on his team! Couldn't he smile at her? God, Sasuke was acting like a jealous girl.
Deep into his thoughts, he hadn't even noticed he was at the aforementioned boy's front door until he tripped on the steps leading up. He silently cursed himself. Now he was thinking all hard about why Sasuke was acting like a jealous girl. Stupid bastard he was anyway.
A loud knock on the wooden door before the blonde chickened out, and he waited patiently. Or as patiently as an energetic blonde could. Why was that bastard so slow? Was he dead? Or was he just having a b-
The door opened up slowly, and he blinked, because the door sounded like one of those creepy horror movie doors. With the creaking and the slow opening that all horror films have to have or else they are not called horror films. They are just films. He shivered. Damn. Maybe Sasuke's house was haunted?!
Ok. Now he regretted coming. He didn't want to face a ghost or something equally creepy at three in the morning!
Deep into his thoughts about ghosts, the blonde didn't notice the silent, but sleepy, glare directed at him until the voice that accompanied the eyes spoke, sounding irritated.
Very, very irritated.
"What are you doing at my house, you idiot?"
Oh yeah. Sasuke's house. Why was he here again?
…
Oh yeah.
He stuck out a finger angrily at the black-haired boy, taking a step back and glaring full force at his friend. His voice was loud, breaking the silence around them. And he swore he heard a dog barking somewhere in the distance. "Why the hell were you acting like such an ass yesterday?! And why did you storm off like that, huh?! Why do you think you're better then ever-"
And then he was cut off by a growl before he could rant about his dislike for the Uchiha's actions. Jeez. This guy didn't like hearing about his defaults. Sure, no one did, but he didn't have to practically threaten him to make him shut up! Asshole.
"You're telling me that you came here, at three in the MORNING, to ask me why I walked off on you and her?"
Naruto paused and stared at the obviously aggravated Uchiha. Well, if you put it that way, it made him sound even more idiotic then the Sharingan user gave him credit for. Did this guy always have to make him feel so low?! "Yeah," he answered in a voice that said duh!
A hissed out sigh came from Sasuke's mouth through clenched teeth, and clenched fists relaxed and folded themselves over the boy's chest. He could practically feel the hatred and loathing radiating off the teen as he glared even more fiercely at the blue-eyed teen.
Clearly, Sasuke was not a morning person. Or he didn't like being waken up at three in the morning. Either way.
"You. Are. An. Idiot."
"What?! What did you say, asshole?!" The nerve of this guy! He didn't have to call him an idiot so many times in the few minutes that they had been here! He didn't even do anything wrong! Just came over and interrupted the teen's ugly-sleep!
The voice spoke again, way more frustrated then before. Didn't this guy have a breaking point or something?
"You came over here, which is a fifteen minute jog, at three in the morning," Extra spite on the last word. "To come over here and ask a stupid question, that you could have figured out eventually if you used your brain!?"
This guy made him sound so stupid and idiotic! And the Uchiha had used the word 'idiot' more times than he cared for. This guy was a total asshole in the morning!
And he had thought about it! He'd thought about it a lot! Since he had dropped Hinata off at her house! And he still couldn't figure out the answer. Well, he really had nothing else to lose. He could ask the Uchiha why he had stormed off. But that would make him even sound more like an idiot, and he really didn't want to be called one. He hated that name!
"You want to know the reason why, right? Idiot."
And he still ended up being called an idiot, even though he hadn't said anything!!! Bastard! But he didn't think the raven-haired boy would tell him the reason why if he called him a bastard. So the blonde simply nodded, silently fuming.
The voice spoke again, this time quiet and soft. The teen was even relaxed now, leaning against the doorframe. Sasuke was really moody in the morning. Kind of like a PMS-y girl. He held back a snicker at this. He wondered what Sasuke would look like in his Sexy no Jutsu.
"You know how you got pissed off when Sakura and all of the other girls hung off me, and you stomped off like a brat sometimes?"
He nodded silently, only noticing the brat in that sentence five seconds after. Now he was calling him a brat?! Was that any better than "idiot"? a strange part of Naruto's mind wondered as he stood there.
Before he could protest, the black-eyed boy continued, looking at him evenly. "It's kind of like that."
The blonde blinked. Did. Did Sasuke just admit that he had stalked off because he was JEALOUS, of all things?! Hah! High and mighty Sasuke, jealous over such a little thing! He could blackmail the pale teen with this! Sasuke: Jealous over blonde getting attention from a girl! He could see the head lines now! Yes, the headlines – and then… there would be the killing of Uzumaki Naruto in the next day's headlines because of those damned fangirls! But still – at least Naruto would live to see the original headlines that would then cause the girls to kill him and nothing would be able to spoil his happiness until he had to run for his life. Wait… wasn't he going to respond aloud to Sasuke's obvious jealousy?
"So, you're saying you were jealous, Sasuke? Hah! You shouldn't have said tha-"
"Are you admitting that you were jealous when the other girls hung off me?"
Oh, he could just feel the smugness glowing off of that one. But. What? When had he been jealous?! When had his blackmail-the-asshole plan backfired?! He had not been jealous! Asshole! Why did everything have to backfire when the Uchiha was involved?
"No, I'm not saying that!" Again, he thought he heard a dog bark in the distance from his loud yelling. "I... I was angry because y-"
"Just shut up, dobe. I want to get some sleep. So it's either you just sleep here for the rest of the night, or go walk back to your own bed."
Ok. Now he was confused. Was Sasuke being nice? This was new. He thought the bastard would slam the door in his face and he'd have to walk back… Maybe, if he accepted, he could root around for some stuff and blackmail the Uchiha with that.
Now that he noticed, he was kind of sleepy. A yawn threatened to break his confused expression as he thought a bit more on the offer. While, why not? He could sleep here, probably, now that he had gotten the question off of his chest. And he could always blackmail the teen with something else. Sooner or later.
"…okay. I'll sleep here."
"Then hurry up and get in. It's cold."
And that was when he noticed that the teen had nothing on. But boxers. Black, silky boxers. And they were riding low on his pale hips… very, very low.
Oh God. Nosebleed Alert!
"Hurry up, idiot. Stop staring and get in."
This broke his staring contest with Sasuke's boxers and his futile struggle with the blood abandoning his body parts and rushing to his face. What the hell?! Why did Sasuke only wear boxers to bed? That was. Wrong! What if he got a visitor, like now?! Or, what if there was a fire, and… god, they were dangerous! He could probably get all enemies on their knees, worshipping him if he entered any battle with boxers like… that!
He forced himself to stumble past the opened door, deftly avoiding glancing at his friend. In boxers. Jeez, someone should tell Sasuke that it wasn't polite to come to the door in boxers! It could give his visitor a heart attack – or a nosebleed, depending on the case. In Naruto's case, it was the latter.
Or worse problems. But he was avoiding thinking right now. Because thinking was bad with an almost-naked person in the room. Thinking was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
"C'mon, Naruto. I want to get sleep sometime tonight."
That was how he ended up staring at Sasuke's back as he walked down the hall, clearly following the scantily-clad teen. The mantra of 'don't look down, don't look down, Jesus, I looked down. Don't look down!' repeated unmercifully in his head. Damn it, why was he so intent on Sasuke's body right now? It wasn't fair! It was like his Sexy no Jutsu, just with one piece of clothing and it. It was SASUKE, of all people!
He turned his head to the side stubbornly, blush bright and just in time as the Uchiha looked back and opened the rice door, the soft sound of something sliding filling the awkward (well, awkward for the blonde) silence. Then the teen just went in and Naruto stared at the empty spot, contemplating what he should do. Maybe he should run away? Or should he just follow, as not to raise suspicion? Or should he just go back to the couch and. While, maybe he should just run.
"Damn it, Naruto, you're slow. Hurry up."
Oh, why did Sasuke have to be wearing only boxers?! It should be a sin – or a blessing… jeez, did he mention how low those damn things were?
He stiffly followed the boy's orders, walking slowly into the bedroom. And he had to resist the urge to let out a low whistle. Damn. Sasuke's room was nice.
The room had dark, beige colored walls with white trimming, with a beautiful, light-brown colored hardwood floor. There was a large, dark brown rug on the side of the bed facing the wall, making the walls and floor look slightly lighter. The furniture was dark cherry wood, looking very close to the darkest brown he could imagine, and the knobs were shiny and looked like real gold in the dim light the back lamp beside the bed provided. The large, white light on the ceiling looked real cool, too, because he could barely make out flowers decorating the rim.
The bed was a canopy one, facing sideways from the door, and made out of the same material as the furniture, with the navy curtains tied up to the posts. The bedspread was messy, but Naruto could barely make out the fan that was the Uchiha symbol. And the bed looked so soft.
Wow. Sasuke must have got a real good sleep every night.
Which brought up another question... Where was the Uchiha?
"Close your mouth, idiot."
Well, that answered his question.
He looked sideways, only noticing the white closet when the black-haired boy came out of it with a bundle of black material in his hand. He stared curiously at Sasuke, embarrassment suddenly gone. Was this the Uchiha's room? He thought it would be more. Dark and sinister and evil. Not really coolly decorated!
The raven-haired genin must have noticed the confused and questioning look that seemed to be on the blue-eyed genin's face since he had came here, and sighed, throwing the bundle of cloth he held in his hand at Naruto. "I didn't decorate the room. It was my cousin's."
The blonde caught the thing, holding it up in the dim light to inspect it. It was a really long, black shirt that would probably reach his knees, with a faint Uchiha sign on the breast pocket. He guessed this was going to be his pajamas. "Why don't you sleep in your own room?"
A pause, but he couldn't see Sasuke's face through the shirt. "I can't. The bed is destroyed."
"Why?"
"Because it is. Now hurry up and go put it on so I can get to sleep."
"Geez, alright already. Where's the bathroom?"
"One door down on your right."
And through out this, the blonde had managed to keep his face hidden by the shirt. Damn. Shirts were really useful. (Sasuke should have one ON, he thought briefly.)
He quickly made his trip to the bathroom and dressed into the shirt, leaving on his shorts (because he didn't want to give the teen a show of his legs, like he was doing to the blonde).
And, the whole time, he avoided thinking about Sasuke. And boxers. And jealousy. And destroyed bedrooms. He avoided thinking all together.
The trip back to the bedroom was quiet, and by the time he was there, he saw Sasuke sleeping on a futon at the end of the bed, back turned to him and his side raising every few seconds. Was Sasuke sleeping on the futon? Did that mean he got the bed?
Wow. Sasuke was an asshole, moody, and nice at this hour.
He climbed into the comfy bed slowly, reveling in the softness as soon as his knee made contact with the bed. He was right. The bed was really comfy.
Pulling the blankets over him, Naruto laid down, hugging the pillow to his chest as his eyes stayed half lidded. At least Sasuke told him why he had stomped off. And at least he had come here, and found out the actual reason. And at least he couldn't see Sasuke now, just hear him breathing.
When Naruto closed his blue eyes off to the world, he fell asleep instantly, lulled by the silence and Sasuke's breathing.
O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O..O
That's the end of chapter 8! Which took way to long to come out O.o;. Damn viruses and Kingdom Hearts..
Anyway, long chapter, but whatever. I actually thought the end was real rushed O.-. (KK: in translation, she was just really lazy) I feel guilty for it (KK: don't worry, she doesn't… I think… I'm not a mind reader, as much as I wish I was one.), but I'm so tired. And I felt guilty for not writing too, so I wrote fast in one sitting XD;;. Damn. I suck -.-;;;. (KK: nope, you don't suck… you're just comma-happy… very comma happy.)
Hope you liked the chapter, and I hope I come out with the next one sooner!
And you can't eat ugly kitties either. They may be ugly, but they're still kitties. But if you review, I won't complain!
KK: Jeez, the only thing she complains about… is… um… ((looks down at script)) Ah yes… me not betaing fast enough… ((looks around)) Who the hell wrote this thing? ((waves script and stomps off))
XD Please review.