Chapter 2: Dark Clouds
The Dancing Cloud, a rather moderate inn situated somewhere near the border of the Country of Rain and Country of Fire was surprisingly full of people tonight, perhaps due to the rather horrid weather they'd been having lately. Thunder and lightening could be heard as rain poured down heavily, soaking the ground, making it difficult for traveling. The innkeeper looked through the groups of people eating and drinking and chatting... He noted that most of the patrons were travelers and merchants, perhaps looking for shelter from the storm, while a few were locals simply looking for an excuse to quench their thirst after a hard day's work.
Suddenly, the bell rang and the door opened."IRASHAIMASEEENNN! "Welcomed the innkeeper looking up to see the tall man who had just walked in. The stranger was heavily cloaked in black from his head right down to his boots, a scarf around his neck covering his nose and mouth, and a broad-rimmed bamboo hat shielding his head. All the innkeeper could see was the man's eyes; cold, dark, ebony eyes. A small puddle formed at the stranger's boots, he must have been traveling in the storm, thought the Innkeeper.
Realizing that he was being impolite by staring at the stranger, the innkeeper got his act together and smiled at his new 'guest'.
"Forgive me Sir for keeping you waiting. What can I do for you? A room to rest in? Some food and drinks maybe?" Asked the innkeeper, smiling at the man who said nothing but gazed at him darkly.
"A room will do." Replied the stranger, voice as smooth and dark as his eyes. "And bring me some green tea."
"Yes, Sir. Room No.6 and here's your key, I hope you have a pleasant stay. I'll bring the tea right up to you in a moment."
The stranger took the key without a word and made his way up to his room. The innkeeper breathed a sigh of relief. His 'guest' was not a man to be reckoned with. He shuddered recalling that pair of eyes watching him,piercing his very soul. He could have sworn he'd saw a swirl of red in the stranger's eyes for a moment. Again he shuddered feeling somewhat cold. That stranger's eyes. His gaze alone could kill.
-----
KNOCK!KNOCK!KNOCK!KNOCK!
"Tsunade-baachan!" 'KNOCK,KNOCK!'
"Oii...Tsunade-baachan!"
The door opened and a mop of blond hair and pair of blue-sky orbs peered into the room. Naruto walked into the Godaime's office followed by a much taller dark haired young man with white eyes.
"Tsunade-bachan!" Naruto called.
"Naruto, shouldn't you knocked first?" Neji said as he followed Naruto into
the Hokage's office.
"Tsunade-bachan! Damn it. Where the hell is that old hag? I thought she'd be here what with all the piles of paperwork and documents on her desk." said Naruto looking rather annoyed. He walked up to her desk and peered behind a stack of documents where he found the Godaime, eyes closed, her forehead rested on the edge of the desk, holding a pen in her right hand.
Naruto stood there for a moment. 'Oh…someone has been slacking off alright.'The blonde said to himself. After getting no response from the Godaime, Naruto couldn't contain his irritation any longer.
"JEEZ, WAKE UP ALREADY, OLD HAG!" Bellowed Naruto in Tsunade's ear. The Godaime jumped with a start causing her to accidentally scribble on the document in front of her.
"UZUMAKI NARUTO! YOU DAMN BRAT! LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO. NOW I HAVE TO REWRITE THAT REPORT AGAIN, DAMN IT!"
"Serves you right. You shouldn't have been dozing off in the first place" Naruto snorted, hands on his hips.
"I was not dozing off, Brat!" said Tsunade her veins begging to pop out.
Neji sighed, here we go again, it's going to be another battlefield in here, he thought to himself. However, he couldn't help but smile when he saw Naruto's cheeky grin. The blonde's smile was like a beam of sunshine warming up anyone's spirit. Well, maybe except for the Godaime apparently, she looked totally pissed off.
"Was too." Said Naruto with a cheeky grin.
"Was not! Hokages don't doze off in the middle of doing paperwork!" retorted
Tsunade in defense.
"Hah! Then what's that drool in the corner of your mouth, old hag!"
"Where?" The Godaime grabbed a mirror and proceed to wipe off her mouth
"Haha...got you! See...told you were dozing off" Laughed Naruto gleefully, his arms grabbing the middle of his stomach. He looked like a mischievious nymph.
"NA...RU...TO...!" More veins popped out and a red-faced Tsunade advanced threateningly towards the laughing blonde youth.
"Yikes!" cried Naruto backing off towards the door
Neji decided to take control of the situation before things got bloody. He grabbed the blonde's arm before Naruto could dash out of the room and stepped forward to the Godaime.
"My apologies, Tsunade-Hime. For intruding you at this time. But we have urgent matters to report to you " Said Neji in
his-get-down-to-business tone. He bowed down as a respect to the Godaime , while at the same time he pushed Naruto's head down, forcing him to bow.
This somehow managed to appease the Godaime's anger.
"Alright, this had better be good, Hyuuga. What is this urgent matter you speak of?"
-----
Not far from Konoha Village, standing on a thick tree branch, stood three men and a woman, clothed in navy blue pants and sleeveless shirts with brown vests covering their upper bodies and armed with swords on their back. Their
faces were hidden behind white masks with painted design. The group seemed to be watching with interest the swarm of crows below them. The large groups of crows on the ground were swarming around something. The air surrounding them smelled of dried blood and rotten meat. The woman vanished and appeared suddenly on the ground, in front of
the of crows scaring them away. As they flew away, two corpses were made visible before their eyes confirming their suspicion.
"Are they the ones?" Asked the black-haired woman in a soft but firm voice. Even though she was small, and petite one could see the confidence and power within her.
"Yes." Answered one of her companions.
"There appeared to be two. Any others?" Asked the woman again.
"None."
"I see. Make sure the bodies are disposed of properly after you're done with them." She reminded the men. "Widen the search perimeters. I want the areas thoroughly checked. I'll head back and report to the Hokage."
"Hai."
The woman looked back at the corpses one more time, her pale eyes looking out through the slits on her mask. "What is really going on here?" She wondered.
-----
Naruto was on his way back to his apartment after the meeting with Tsunade. He decided to go back to his training to pass the time. On his way to his usual training spot poof appeared Kakashi before him.
"YO!"
"What the... don't do that!" Naruto said, startled.
"Do what?" Asked Kakashi with a poker faced.
"Appear like that in front of me, what else? I almost had a heart attack you know." Said the blonde eyeing his former sensei, who dug out a small pocket sized book titled 'Come Come Again Paradise Vol.1' from his green pocket vest and proceeded to read it.
'Hmph…damn pervert'. Said Naruto to himself. 'I wonder what Iruka-sensei sees in him anyway.'
"Well…what do you want?" Naruto asked wearily.
"Oh…nothing much. Iruka's been busy lately and thought it'd be nice if you could come eat with us this evening at our place." Kakashi said, his visible eye not once leaving the small book.
Iruka sensei and Kakashi sensei had finally made their relationship open to the whole of Konoha when Kakashi moved in with Iruka .Which wasn't much of a surprise really considering the way Kakashi had wooed Iruka to
no ends. The Copy Ninja wasn't notoriously known as a genius for nothing.
The blonde shook his head. Poor Iruka-Sensei. Kakashi was a very determined man whenever he sets his mind on something.
"Alright, tell Iruka-Sensei I'll be there." Said Naruto. But before he could say anything else poof Kakashi disappeared again in a puff of smoke.
"Damn, why did he have to do that. I wasn't even finished talking to him." Mumbled Naruto to himself.
Naruto had to admit that he did admired Kakashi as a fellow shinobi. However, the blonde had started to come to the conclusion that great shinobis are perhaps also great perverts; another example being Jiraiya, the legendary Toad
Hermit or so called Ero-Sennin by Naruto. Shaking his head, the blonde continued his walk hoping that pervertedness was not something contagious.
-----
Naruto met Lee on the way to Ichiraku's Ramen, where he was planning to take his lunch break. The thick eye browed man decided to join the Kyuubi holder for some ramen. He had just got back from the hospital from visiting Sakura who had just given birth two days ago. At the age of 21, Rock Lee had become the proud father of a cute pink-haired little baby girl. He and Sakura had married for almost a year and Naruto was very happy for them.
The blonde didn't know when his two friends had started dating. All he knew was that Sakura had somehow grown out of her childish crush for Sasuke and had opened her heart to Lee, who was kind and understanding towards her needs. Naruto had been the happiest person when they had told him that they were going to get married.
Naruto thought back to the time when he had been obsessed with finding Sasuke. Back then he had no room for anything else on his mind and so he had missed out on a lot in his life, especially on his friends. He was grateful that Sakura, Lee, Neji, Hinata, and the others had been patient and understanding throughout those years.
"Thanks, Lee" Naruto blurted out suddenly, not knowing why he felt the need to do so. He just felt that he needed to, that's all.
"For what?" Said Lee, slurping the ramen, his round eyes looking at him with surprise.
"Oh. I don't know. For everything I guess. You know, you and Sakura have been supportive of me all along and I'm just grateful, that's all." Said the blonde, shrugging his shoulders. Naruto ran his hand through his soft blonde hair. He had let his hair grow to shoulder length. He'd tried to gain some order to his hair, but try as he may the blonde's hair would always
remain wild and uncontrollable. All in all he looked like a person who'd just had a good rut in bed.
Lee beamed at the blonde. "Sakura and I are your friends, Naruto. We'll always support you, no matter what."
Naruto smiled back and grinned at his friend. "Old man, another bowl of pork ramen please! "Said Naruto to the owner. "Hey, Thick eyebrows, eat as much as you want. Today's my treat!"
"Hahaha...okay. Another bowl for me, please!"
"YOSHA! COMING RIGHT UP!" Said the Owner.
After paying for the ramen, Naruto decided to head back to his apartment while Lee had some errands to do for Sakura.
"Naruto you should go pay Sakura a visit if you have time. She'd love if you could come and see her. Oh, and of course you should see my cute Akane." Said Lee proudly.
"Okay, I'll do that. Thanks and tell Sakura-chan I said hi. Later, Thick eyebrows." The blonde wondered what Sakura and Lee's baby would look like. Would the baby look like Sakura or Lee or a mix of both. Naruto smiled to himself as he tried to imagine a pink haired baby girl with thick eyebrows, as he made his way back home.
-----
"So, how are you doing Naruto?" Iruka asked that evening when he, Kakashi and Naruto sat down to eat. He had always been concerned for the Kyuubi holder since way back when he was just a kid.
"Oh, nothing much. Just the usual cycle. I got up in morning and trained, had some ramen for breakfast, then trained some more, had ramen for lunch and trained some more till dark, went home, had a cup of ramen, showered then went to bed. Nothing interesting really, unless I have missions that is." Naruto said, biting down a fried chicken and sipping miso soup.
"What a boring life you must lead, Naruto-kun.." Said Kakashi. Watching the blond eat. "Where did you get all that appetite from…hmm? You eat a lot but still remain short and scrawny, brat. You even look like a girl."
"Well, excuse me for being short and scrawny. I couldn't make myself grow taller even if I wanted to. And don't you dare say that I look like a girl" Naruto replied with a dignified huff.
"Hah. Your growth spurt stopped because you ate way to much ramen, kid, and not enough nutrition. I already told you to eat more vegetables remember?"
"Che. Mind your own damn business. You know I hate vegetables, especially green ones, and leave my ramen out of this will you. I'd probably be dead by now if it wasn't for ramen, if you must know, SENSAI!." Said Naruto, a bit touchy on the subject matter of his ramen.
"Hai…hai. Whatever you say Naruto-kun." Kakashi said rolling his eyes.
"Now, Kakashi. Behave yourself" Iruka said to his lover.
"Err, why aren't you eating?" Asked Naruto.
"I'm on a diet." Replied Kakashi.
"Diet? What for? It's not like you're fat or anything" Pointed Naruto, helping himself to another bowl of rice.
"Hey... I have to be in good shape for Iruka, if you must know." Said Kakashi with a smug look on his face.
Iruka who was sipping his miso soup, coughed when he heard Kakashi say that, spilling some soup on the floor.
"Kakashi…watch what you're saying in front of Naruto. You're being a bad influence on him you know." Iruka said, wiping the table, his face turning a nice shade of red.
"Naruto's not a kid anymore, Dolphin. He's a grown boy now." Said Kakashi in a bored tone. "You're like a mother hen you know. Stop worrying about him for God's sake."
"Oh really? So what if I'm like that. I can't help worrying about him. What are you trying to point out eh, Kakashi sensei?" Said Iruka irritated, glaring at his white-haired lover.
"Too much over protectiveness isn't going to be good for the brat. Besides he's 20 years old and an ANBU. So stop worrying like an old lady."
Iruka stood up and glared at Kakashi. "Oh, now you're saying I'm like an old lady, eh?"
"Y... yes" Said Kakashi, curious what his little dolphin was up to.
"YOU!" Iruka pointed at his lover's nose. "TONIGHT YOU'RE SLEEPING ON THE COUCH!" Yelled Iruka straight into Kakashi's face and stomped off to the bedroom, slamming the door with a bang.
"Eh?What?No. Wait. "Kakashi dashed off after his lover with a miserable look on his face. "Come on Iruka, honey bunny, you know I didn't mean it that way."
"I...RU...KA...open up will you. I'm sorry. Really." Whimpered Kakashi, trying to calm his angry dolphin.
Iruka suddenly opened the door. But before Kakashi could step inside the bedroom, a pillow and blanket was thrown at Kakashi's face and the door was closed and locked once again.
Kakashi sighed. His little dolphin can bite really hard whenever he's angry. It looks like the couch for him tonight, thought Kakashi, grimly, imagining the cold night alone.
-----
Naruto jumped into the air, kunais held in both hands, he threw them at the wooden board below. The kunais logged into the wood in a perfect line and order as the blonde landed on his feet. He had been training for hours after having dinner at Iruka's house and had work up quite a sweat. Naruto wiped off the sweat from his brows and decided to take a break when
he saw Neji heading towards him.
"Neji" Naruto said, wiping some of the sweat off his arms and neck. His white shirt, wet with sweat, clung to his well toned body revealing a slender hip and nice abs.
"Naruto. You're still training?" Asked the Hyuuga prodigy his eyes taking in the blonde's lithe body.
"Yup. Didn't feel like sleeping yet." Said the blonde. "How about you. I thought you slept early?" Naruto looked at Neji who was dressed in grey kimono with his long dark hair left loose. 'Neji looked good in those kimono.' Thought the blonde.
"Can't sleep. So I decided to take a walk."
The Kyuubi holder sat down on the grass, his arms around his knees and gazed into the night sky. The moon was bright tonight giving a soft glow to the sky. Neji decided to join beside him. For a while the they were content to
stare at the stars above them. No words were spoken. Just comfortable silence.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Said Naruto in wonder referring to the stars in the sky.
"Yeah...beautiful." Neji answered softly, looking at Naruto. The blonde failed to notice that the man beside him was referring to him as the Hyuuga prodigy had not lifted his gazed from Naruto in the first place.
Naruto suddenly averted his gaze to Neji, cerulean orbs met pale white ones.
'Oh God. You could get lost in that endless blue ocean of his.' Thought Neji. 'Eyes so innocent and warm.'
"Em...Neji what are thinking?" The blonde asked.
"You have beautiful eyes do you know that, Naruto?" Said Neji, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Naruto blushed slightly at Neji's sudden blunt reply. The usual Neji didn't usually have much to say. He was the type to never openly express his thoughts or emotions.
"Haha...it's not like you, you know." Laughed Naruto lamely trying to cover his embarrassment.
"I know." Said the white-eyed man. Naruto looked at Neji, his expression serious.
For a while neither said anything. Naruto suddenly felt a bit nervous sitting next to a very silent Neji.
"Um...I think it's getting kind of late. Better head back home." Said Naruto. He stood up, when Neji pulled his arms, bringing him crashing into the white-eyed man's embrace.
The blonde, clearly surprised at Neji's action, gaze into Neji's eyes. Pale, white eyes looked back at him in silence. Eyes that held a smoldering fire.
"Err...Neji?" Naruto didn't know what else to say.
Neji brought his face closer to the blonde man. His mouth nearing Naruto's. For a moment Naruto thought that Neji was going to kiss him. He closed his eyes, whether from embarrassment or expecting a kiss.
"Goodnight, Naruto." Whispered the Hyuuga prodigy huskily in Naruto's ear, causing shivers throughout Naruto's body. The dark-haired man suddenly let go of the blonde and walked away, leaving a very confused and disappointed Naruto.
Naruto couldn't sleep as he lay wide-awake in his bed, thinking about what had happed at the training ground not long ago. Every time he closed his eyes he would see a pair of pale ones. The blonde turned to his side. He had opened his bedroom window letting the outside light illuminate the darkness of his room. He stared at a moth that fluttered near his window sill, not really noticing it at all.
'Why do I keep thinking about what had happened back then?' Asked Naruto to himself. 'Was I expecting him to kiss me?' The blonde closed his eyes and tried to sleep. 'Am I attracted to him?' The Kyuubi holder rolled onto his other side. He liked Neji and thought of him as a good friend since he had been there for him whenever he needed him. Naruto remembered when he had blamed himself for not being able to bring Sasuke back to the Village. He had felt so frustrated and angry that he had shut himself up in his apartment drowning in his own misery. If it hadn't been for Neji who opened his eyes by beating him to his senses, he would probably still be that way.
He let out a sigh. 'It's going to be a long night tonight.' He thought. After what seemed like ages, Naruto managed to drift off to sleep.
------
Somewhere at the Hyuuga Mansion a moan could be heard in the silence of the night, as a man wrapped his fingers around his hard, throbbing shaft and proceed to pump himself. He pinched his taunt nipple with saliva coated fingers, imagining that it was the soft tongue of a certain blonde man who was the object of his desire. He gripped his shaft harder and pumped it faster all the while fantasizing his hard length in the blonde's mouth, sucking him, licking him, teasing him, until he couldn't bear the sweet torture any longer. He wanted nothing more than to wrap that blonde's slender body in him arms, loose himself in those innocent blue eyes, and breath in his sunshine scent.
The man suddenly arched his back as he came, pushing his face into the pillow, muffling the sound out as he screamed the blonde's name. He then laid back, totally exhausted and closed his eyes for a while. Not long after that he got up deciding that he did indeed need a cold shower. Even as he felt the cold water run down his body his mind lingered on the blonde youth.
"Damn!" Cursed the black-haired man as he grit his teeth. It took all of his self-control to curb his raging desire as he felt it surging back down his lower region.
"Naruto."
-----
End of Chapter 2
