Angel Of Darkness

Chapter Thirteen: Preparations

With the festival fast approaching, the entire student body fell into turmoil.

Students were working hard to get everything ready on time. At times it felt like their vision was something impossible, but they held pride over always outdoing other schools at this time of year. Their festival was always a memorable one, not only for their community, but for themselves as well. The last day of the festival was in specific always dedicated to the students that had worked so hard, and it symbolized the start of new relationships.

On top of working hard, many were scrambling to find a date.

Many of them were hoping that this would be their year to find an everlasting romance of some kind!

Among the agonizing students, was Naruto, one of the ones who was actually excited for the festival to start.

The blond had written down his plans for this year into his personal planner. He was glad that his friends had decided to work on another haunted house this year. It meant that they could pull back out their old props, as well as incorporate new ones.

Depending on their budget.

It was tough setting everything up. They wanted anyone that had participated in their haunted house last year to be surprised this year as well. Their goal was for it to be scarier, more in your face, and something everyone would enjoy.

He was glad to include Sasuke as well, the boy had really interesting ideas on how to scare others.

Some of his ideas even scared him.

Naruto grinned to himself as he shoved the fake ghost into one of the closets, where it would pop out when people opened it, thinking it was an exit. Clapping his hands clean, he pulled out his little planner and checked marked the last ghost.

He bit his lower lip as he circled the last plan he had noted.

Ask Itachi to be his date for the festival.

He knew that there were already a lot of girls writing Itachi love letters, and even some boys that had the balls to ask him out, but Itachi had turned them all down. Naruto knew, because he had seen him do it once, and then Kisame and Kyuubi had mentioned how brutal Itachi was at turning down people.

Naruto was a little scared he'd get turned down as well, but it was not going to stop him from taking the risk and asking him. Naruto was hopeful that he would be the one Itachi chose. Maybe, since they were kind of friends, Itachi might not be so mean and would agree to at least hang out with him during the festival…

Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto noted that Sasuke was perched at the very top of a ladder, held by Suigetsu while the raven painted one of the larger props. It was an incredible scenery of a pumpkin patch and it looked realistic, like you could almost walk into it.

Sasuke was truly talented, and even had the looks to back it up.

Naruto wasn't blind. He knew that just as many girls that had asked out Itachi, had asked Sasuke out as well. The females had been relentless in choosing whom they wanted to invite to the dance, but not one looked his way. Not that he wanted them to, but it would be nice to know that he was desirable as well.

He could understand Sasuke turning down the girls, they were both gay, but why turn down any of the guys that wanted to go out with him? Some cute guys had even stopped the raven in the middle of the hallway to confess themselves to him. Sasuke had ignored their confessions, turning them down coldly.

It made Naruto feel envious and at the same time mad at Sasuke for turning down such opportunities. Not everyone got to experience what it was like to be genuinely asked out.

Looking back to his planner Naruto tightened his hold on the small book.

He wouldn't lose to Sasuke on this. He wanted to be able to ask a nice guy out, and Itachi was that. He was kind, and gentle. He was everything that Naruto was looking for in a boyfriend and in return Naruto would spoil him and love him.

Sasuke wasn't making a move anyways!

Despite claiming that he wanted to make Itachi his husband, Sasuke seemed to avoid Itachi if anything. Naruto wasn't playing around like Sasuke was. The only problem would be getting the guts to actually confess!

Cleaning up his area, Naruto called goodbye to everyone and rushed out of the auditorium, where they were setting everything up. Classes were cut short for this. Teachers walked around, marking in the hours that you logged in to justify the shortage of lesson time. After you met your allotted time, you were free to do what you wanted.

Naruto liked this time of year a lot!

Neji wasn't sure how he got roped into being one of the waiters for 'Akatsuki Café' but here he was, letting some girl take his measurements for a waiter outfit. Several others students were slaving over the preparations of the maid costumes, and laughing all the while.

"All done Neji, you are free to go," The girl in front of him said with a cute smile. She took her notes with her to the table where a group of girls were working on the waiter outfits for the boys. Amongst them, helping was Itachi and Kisame. It was strange to Neji how the two boys were so willing to work on the atrocious outfits.

Neji took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down as he tugged on his school jacket and opened the door to the classroom.

He paused, in slight surprise to find Naruto standing there, a light blush on his face. He looked a bit nervous, and seemed to be trying to look around him. It pissed Neji off, and he slammed the door closed behind himself.

Naruto blinked, and finally looked up at him. The blonde's amazing blue eyes widened in disbelief, before he took a step back, "Hey, I was looking for Itachi," he stiffly said, looking ready to run away.

"Itachi," Neji said the name in distaste, "he's busy, why would you be looking for him anyways?"

"I have something to ask him, not that it's any of your business," Naruto retorted, "Well, I'll ask him later if he's busy then," he turned to leave, only for his arm to be grasped.

"Wait, Naruto,"

Naruto pulled his arm away harshly, and looked at Neji with a raised eyebrow, "What?" he asked, having little patience for this boy. Hyuuga Neji, the only guy to have asked him out and confessed in the past. Naruto took it back, it wasn't all that nice to be asked out anyways.

God, why did it have to be him.

The one guy he couldn't stand!

Neji always acted like he was better than everyone else. He always mistreated others, and blamed them for his mistakes when they worked on projects with him.

"I was wondering if you didn't have someone for the festival, if you'd go with me?" Neji got down to the point, his face a bit blank as he said the words. Naruto felt himself bristle.

That was not what he wanted to hear, not from Neji.

"I'm sorry, I have to decline." Naruto said, trying to be polite despite feeling completely upset.

"But…" Neji started.

"Look, I don't want to go with you, please understand," Naruto gently said. He figured he had no reason to be mean to Neji. He just wished that he would understand that when he said he wasn't interested, that Neji would listen and give him his space.

"Are you planning to ask Itachi?" Neji asked, the tone in his voice bitter, and the look on his eyes accusing. Naruto didn't answer, looking away with guilt that he didn't understand. "You are huh, why him!" Neji pushed, demanding.

Naruto shrugged, "I like him." The blond pursed his lips, upset that he even answered.

"Why don't you like me?" Neji asked in a nearly pleading tone, "Why can't you like me?"

Naruto looked at Neji.

Inuzuka Neji was handsome, there was no denying that. With his white eyes, and long chocolate hair, he was truly a beautiful boy. Naruto shook his head, yet, looking at him hurt and brought upon a dislike that he couldn't explain. Naruto wanted to say that he was still judging Neji based on his past actions as a spoiled brat, but maybe it was more.

The dislike he felt only grew the more that Neji persisted in liking him.

He didn't want Neji to like him.

"I have to go, I promised my friends I'd be back in a few minutes," Naruto said, moving to leave with a small wave. "I'll see you later."

"Wait!" Neji called, grabbing Naruto by the wrist this time. The blond turned fast, intending to yell at him, but that was when Neji captured his lips in a sudden kiss. The bump of their lips was a bit painful, but Neji pressed harder, trying to get a reaction out of him.

Naruto froze, tears welling up in his eyes as realization hit hard.

The classroom door opened, and Kyuubi stepped out.

The sight that greeted him, shocked him at first but when he noted the tears in Naruto's eyes, he couldn't help it. He reacted, "Hey!" Without thought he pulled Neji away from Naruto, pushing the blond behind him. "What's going on!" Kyuubi demanded.

Neji scoffed, wiping at his mouth as he glared. "You're interrupting, you oaf, go away!" Neji snapped, gritting his teeth at the red head.

"No, you go away! Can't you see you were doing something that he didn't want," he signaled to the crying and devastated Naruto.

Neji's eyes widened at the sight. "Naruto…" Fuck, that had not been his intentions. He had been hoping that his kiss would be enough to convince Naruto that there was something between them. He never meant to make him cry.

"Go away," Kyuubi snapped, standing before Naruto once more, covering his small body away from Neji.

"I just want to-"

"You've done enough!"

There was commotion from the classroom, as some students started to peek out. Neji felt embarrassed, so he turned and left with a huff as he stomped his way down the hall. Kyuubi called that everything was okay, and closed the door on his nosy classmates. He turned to Naruto who was now furiously scrubbing his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Hey are you okay?" Kyuubi softly called.

Naruto was bawling now, "No, he…he took my…my first kiss," Naruto couldn't stop the tears from pouring. His chest felt hollow, like he just lost something precious to him. He hiccuped as Kyuubi placed a hand over his head, and pulled him into a hug.

"it's okay, he didn't take anything away from you! I know the solution to this," He winked, and Naruto's tears paused as he looked into the playful golden eyes.

"How…how do I fix this?" he asked, hopeful as always.

Kyuubi placed his hands on his hips, "With a disinfectant kiss that is how!" he announced. Naruto blinked, he had never heard of such a thing.

"What's a disinfectant kiss?" he softly asked.

"That's when the person you like kisses away the kiss that the person that you didn't like gave you! It's simple, so…just find the person you really want to kiss." Kyuubi explained, crossing his arms.

"Oh," Naruto's blue eyes were shinning now, "Okay, I can do that, where's Itachi?" he asked.

Kyuubi faltered, "You really like that grumpy guy huh. If you want I can go get him for you," Kyuubi offered. Naruto nodded his head.

"Please," he said.

The blond was so cute, why did he like Itachi of all people. Kyuubi wanted to ask him out so badly. Oh fuck it, he was going to get rejected anyways. So who cares, he'll move on after this. "Actually, before I go there is something that I wanted to ask you." Kyuubi said, shifting where he stood.

Naruto blinked, looking at Kyuubi with those wide blue eyes of his. The innocence and sweetness that radiated off of him making this a lot harder than Kyuubi thought it would be. "What is it?" he softly asked, tilting his blond head curiously.

"I was just wondering if you…if you'd…I mean, I really like you, like a lot, and I just was hoping you'd honor me with going to the festival with…me…" The red head stopped his rambling, his golden eyes pausing to lock with the blue ones.

Naruto blushed, his heart beating fast.

He was just asked out by a nice, handsome guy. Sure, he wasn't Itachi, whom he initially wanted, but he found that he was opposed to Kyuubi in the slightest. He had even helped him out with Neji. Naruto dipped his head down a little, a smile coming over his lips as he said, "I'd like that,"

"Huh," Kyuubi wasn't sure if he heard him right.

"I'd like to go to the festival with you, Kyuubi,"

"Really, yes, thank you, thank you!" Kyuubi wasn't sure why but he was thanking Naruto, holding his hands in between both of his. He couldn't believe that this man had agreed to go out with him. He was so lucky! Ha! Take that Itachi.

"Um…before that…" Naruto squirmed where he stood, looking to the side, "Co-could I have a disinfectant kiss?" he timidly asked. Kyuubi blinked, startled.

"I thought that you wanted Itachi to…" He shut his mouth when Naruto turned a slight glare to him. "Okay, uh, here goes." He said, leaning in to attentively press his lips to Naruto's. He could feel the way that Naruto's moist mouth quivered against his, but it didn't stop him from pressing his own more firmly, locking them in a kiss.

It was sweet, if not a bit short, but it was enough to leave the both of their faces burning. From there neither could stop smiling dopily at each other, and had to be pulled apart by a teacher who snapped at them to get back to work.

Itachi was feeding on his blood bag when Madara joined him, complaining about how stupid all of the festival preparations were.

Itachi kept his mouth shut, waiting for the man to stick a blood bag into his own mouth. Itachi finished his off, tossing it into the disposable bin and licked his lips. Madara raised an eyebrow when he noted that Itachi was smirking at him.

"I think that at this point you are the last one to learn what Mom is hiding from you, dad." Itachi said in a taunting tone. "It's actually quite interesting."

Madara couldn't do more than narrow his eyes and scrunch up his eyebrows at his son. What had Itachi learned? He wanted to ask so badly, but he had to wait to finish his blood bag, or risk spilling it all over the floor.

"Mom is king duck, and you" Itachi pressed his hand into the man's chest, "Are the goose. Why don't you figure it out, all you have to do is tag mom."

Madara jaw dropped, spilling blood all over the floor.

Itachi was gone.

Madara cursed, moving to clean up his mess, while the words sunk into his head. Itachi knew what Izuna was hiding. He was the only one that didn't know. Was this all part of the game? He was now the goose, and he needed to go confront his mate.

Something he should have done from the start.

Pressing a hand to his aching head, he wonder why he was even putting up with his family anymore. The two of them were really driving him crazy. Cleaning up his mess, and sucking on another blood bag, Madara got to thinking.

Itachi was right.

It was time to bring this silly game to an end.

Back in the auditorium, Sasuke and Suigetsu were putting the paint away and talking about what scenery they had to paint next when they noted that their blond friend was oddly quiet.

"Okay, what did you do?" Suigetsu asked, poking the spacy blond.

"He asked me out, and I said yes" Naruto dreamily murmured. Both blinked, staring at the blond with utter confusion.

"Who is he?" Suigetsu asked, unsure as to why Naruto was being so vague.

Naruto giggled, giving them a look that had both Suigetsu and Sasuke flinching away from him.

"Naruto, there's someone here for you!" One of their female classmates called. Naruto walked away without answering, moving to meet with a dark haired girl.

"Hey, I think that's Hinata," Suigetsu said as Sasuke reached for the planner the blond had left behind, and checked what it was that he had been checking all day long. Suigetsu noticed and took a look himself, reading off the checklist the blond had written down. Everything seemed pretty cut and dry until he read the last part.

"Ask Uchiha Itachi out on a date, huh guess he got his wish," Suigetsu smirked, "Do you really think he went out of his way to ask Itachi out?" The white haired boy asked. He flinched when he noticed that Sasuke was fuming.

There was no fucking way!

Great, Suigetsu thought to himself, they are going to fight over a dude, fuck.

"Guys, let's go get some dinner!" Naruto said, coming back over to them. He blinked when he noticed that his planner was in Sasuke's hands, and the raven was glaring at him. Naruto was fast at putting two and two together. "Hey! That's my planner, paws off Teme," he hissed, snatching his notebook away from Sasuke.

Sasuke turned away from him, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Ha ha, did Sasuke really think that he was going on a date with Itachi? Well it served him right for being nosy! Naruto wasn't about to explain shit to him. Prickly bastard. Naruto knew he was being a little mean, but it was just for now. He was enjoying seeing Sasuke be all jealous.

"So, what did Hinata want?" Suigetsu asked, wanting to change the subject before things got a bit to serious.

"She was asking for Sakura, apparently she requested a personal reading," Naruto crossed his arms, "But like how would I know where Sakura is, just because she's my friend and all." The blond paused, blushing as his stomach rumbled loudly in hunger.

"That's official, let's go eat," Suigetsu laughed, grabbing Sasuke's arm to bring him along. Naruto cheered, walking a bit ahead of them as they made their way to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was brimming with students.

Many of them didn't have the time to go out and get food, because of their tight schedules so everyone seemed to be attending meal times at the cafeteria. All three friends got into the line, and patiently waited for their turn. Once they had their lunches, they headed for a quiet corner in the fields, under a small tree.

Naruto complained about the food, wishing he could have some ramen.

Suigetsu himself wasn't all too happy with the meal, but he supposed it would do. If only it didn't taste so bland, he thought to himself, glancing at Sasuke who hadn't touched his food. He could see that the boy was worried about what they had read in Naruto's planner.

Had Uchiha Itachi actually agreed to go out with Naruto?

Man, why did his friends have to like the same guy?

"Naruto, you never did tell us who asked you out though!" Suigetsu said, turning an excited expression to the blond, "I want to know how they did it, was it romantic?"

Naruto blushed, nodding his head happily before he dropped his smile and an upset look crossed his face, "Well, I was planning on asking Itachi out, but I was intercepted by the evil Neji!" Naruto grumbled.

"What?" Suigetsu blinked.

"Neji?" Sasuke asked, shocked at the name. He didn't think he would be hearing that name at all.

"Hm, yeah," Naruto picked at his food, "Inuzuka Neji! He hadn't attended the first week of school so I was hoping he had dropped out or something, but I guess a genius like him wouldn't do that."

"Wait, so then you are going out with Neji?" Suigetsu asked, unsure. It didn't sound like Naruto liked the guy all that much.

"Hell no!" Naruto quickly shook his head, upset by the mere implication that he would ever date Neji. "He's such a pompous ass." Naruto scoffed. "He asked me out and when I turned him down he just grabbed me and kissed me, he…he… URGH!" Naruto screamed, pulling at his hair. He didn't even want to remember.

Suigetsu and Sasuke were looking at the blond with wide eyes.

Sasuke sighed, Inuzuka Neji or otherwise known in the past as Hyuuga Neji, the person that had been the reason behind his death. Thinking about what Naruto had said and what had happened in the past, somehow things made a little more sense now.

Had Neji been in love with Naruto in the past?

It would explain why he would hate to see him be close with Naruto. He must have been jealous. Although he was not sure what had happened between Naruto and Neji after he had been pronounced dead. He did know that Naruto didn't live long enough to have been happy with anyone about much less someone that caused him to lose the only person he ever considered a brother.

"Please tell me you punched him or something!" Suigetsu hissed.

"I panicked!" Naruto lamented, "But I did get a disinfectant kiss, so it's all good!"

"A what…" Both Suigetsu and Sasuke asked at the same time.

"A dissenfectant kiss, you know when someone else kisses away the unwanted kiss of some asshole that you never wanted!" Naruto proudly stated.

"That sounds dumb," Sasuke muttered.

"Is there even such a thing?" Suigetsu was confused.

Naruto reigned in his frustration, "There is, and Kyuubi was the one that gave it to me after he asked me to be his date for the festival," The blond was now blushing, a happy smile on his face.

"Well, at least that ended well," Suigetsu muttered. Sasuke sighed, silently kicking himself for doubting Itachi's word. Itachi had agreed to go out with him, of course he wouldn't have said yes to Naruto.

What was wrong with him?

"Yes," Naruto munched on the rest of his food, "What about you guys, any dates for the festival?" he asked while chewing.

"Not yet," Suigetsu said. Come to think of it, Kisame hadn't approached him lately. Should he go search for him and ask him out instead? Trying to be with someone was confusing.

Sasuke didn't say anything as he finally turned his attention to his food.

"You guys might want to hurry, especially you Sasuke. I heard Itachi is getting asked by everyone," The blond smirked. He still liked Itachi, and if he was going to decide to date Kyuubi then he wanted Sasuke to be serious about Itachi. Someone needed to light a fire under him so he'd get a move on! Might as well be him.

The raven haired boy simply glared at him.

Later that evening, when Sasuke was alone in his room, he smiled as he found a stuffed cute green dinosaur in the center of his bed with a small flower. Sasuke squished the toy to his chest as he sat back, admiring the delicate baby's breath blossom.

He could hear Naruto yelling at the television over some action drama he and the others were watching, but Sasuke couldn't care less. He couldn't even focus on what was happening on the screen, as his mind kept going to one person.

'Niisan'