Chapter 29: A level of normalcy
"Alright, this is the gas." Gai explained, he leaned over the window of his prized forest green sports car he'd built almost entirely by himself. Lee, the one from the past, sat anxiously in the driver seat with both hands gripping the wheel apprehensively. "Don't forget. If you don't remember anything I said, remember that."
Lee smiled and rubbed his head nervously, his memories retreating back to yesterday when he'd made the mistake of confusing the gas for the break and nearly ran them off the road in the process. Hey, he was learning "I won't this time Gai-sensei." He reassured the man, repeating Gai's words in his mind and committing them to memory mnemonicly.
Shikamaru sat on the side, mounted firmly on the ground with one leg stretched out and the other knee drawn in. Lee, the one from the future, sat beside him with Gai's laptop between his legs, all of them inside the same empty parking garage Gai had been using to repair his vehicle for a considerable amount of time now. "Going with them this time?" Lee asked.
Shikamaru shook his head, he didn't like cars very much, and he didn't even feel incline to for his Lee's sake. "No chance." He muttered, cradling his right arm in his hand, his thumb running over it gingerly His mind was fixed on comprehending the changes, increasingly since yesterday, when it had turned completely black again, as black as darkness itself. What perplexed him the most was that he couldn't feel his arm anymore after that, though he could feel a series of new things, his arm wasn't one of them. "What are you doing?" He said, turning his distracted attention from himself on to Lee.
Lee stared down at the screen looking over whatever text resided there. "Remember that letter you two got from the past? Well it got me thinking, and I'm researching SDI, to see if I can dig up anything else."
"Hmm..." Shikamaru nodded, he was curious, since the first time he and his own Lee endeavored some research they'd learned all of their friends ended up dead or missing for some reason. He wanted details, he wanted to see the rest of that letter. "Tell me if you find anything."
! - ! - !
Naruto's mouth opened wide with a deep yaw and sat upright with sleepy eyes, stretching his arms high above his head to loosen stiffened muscles. One leg hung lazily off the edge while the other one stretched out before him, 'This thing isn't good for sleeping.' He decided, scratching the messy blond hair. Naruto turned slowly toward the stairs and his attention to the sound that rosed him from his sleep in the first place. By then Sasuke was standing above him, fully dressed. "What time is it?"
"About 10." Sasuke said simply, sitting down beside Naruto.
Naruto let his head fall back against the backrest and stared through the upside down vision of the windows heavy with sunlight shining through the living room door. It was warm, the whole room held an aspect of warmth, a feeling the air of this house was starting to change. "Oh..."
"Waiting for him huh?" Sasuke folded his arms and glanced over at Naruto who stared back at him with a sleepy smile growing across his face.
"Yeah, he never came back yesterday did he?" Naruto's body drifted back down and he sprawled out messily across the couch in his previous position beside Sasuke, closing his eyes. "I'm kinda worried about him, with that whole Ebisu thing and all." Naruto was silent for a moment, before he opened his eyes and looked up at the Uchiha seriously. "What..."An aspect of skepticism came in to his voice and expression. "What was that? They said he was dead, they said he never woke up...they had his body..."
Sasuke's eyes didn't waver a bit, only showing the slightest bit of uncertainty, "Honestly Naruto, I have no idea." It didn't matter, there were already things he couldn't understand. Shikamaru's use of Chakra and jutsu, Lee's new ability to do the same using a plant, Kabuto's curse seal, that night Nightmare attacked, and now Ebisu was just added to the list. '...No Idea...'
"Yeah, thought not." Naruto let his eyes drift closed and his arms rest on top of his stomach lazily. "Konohamaru must be pretty freaked out, I guess that's why he hasn't shown up."
"Aren't we all." Sasuke snorted, finding some indescribable feeling of interested amusement in the strange situation. Whatever it was it made him feel as a small child, just taking in everything that came to their senses and was committed to their memory as it came. "What about you?"
"We brought him clothes..." Naruto voice was distant with thoughts of something he couldn't understand, something he couldn't comprehend, it confused and scared him. "I saw him get dressed, I...I touched him. But they had his body the whole time."
"Naruto, your thinking about this too much." Sasuke sighed.
"They had him, but Iruka, and Asuma, and Kakashi, all of them, they were with him, he killed somebody, how could he-"
Sasuke slipped his hands into the strands of Naruto's hair, slowly leaning down to press his lips to the boy's, slipping his tongue in to the unsuspecting mouth with a gentle, promiscuous kiss. Naruto's eyes shot open, finding himself staring up at Sasuke's neck, and suddenly, in that position, being drawn into an upside down kiss, everything was simple. The confusion inanely drifted away as if it hadn't mattered at all.
Naruto's eyes withdrew behind his eye lids, lifting one hand and immersing his fingers into the dark entanglement of Sasuke's hair.
! - ! - !
This... what was this anyway?
Konohamaru sat on the soft, black leather of a couch, feeling his body sink into the furniture slightly, cradling his back. He stared down with a distracted vision at a black object in his hands.
Itachi and Kisame's safe house was always a place he could come when he needed to think, it seemed today he was more able to then in previous times. Kisame sat in a chair beside the couch, sleeping silently with a dormant, death-like state that could only come from training himself to be so. Konohamaru looked up at the sleeping man, contemplating the notion of waking him up and asking for training. After the aggravated obscenities he probably do it.
'Nah..' Konohamaru shook his head and returned his eyes to the floor, every time he looked at Kisame he couldn't help but think of how the Akatsuki member helped him the day after his grandfather was killed. How Kisame held him, comforted him, how he somehow managed to do those actions and think nothing of them. Konohamaru wasn't nearly as disregarding of it, he felt embarrassed about needing it, though more in an ashamed way. Enough to make him want more training, maybe then he wouldn't feel so helpless when he remembered the somewhat happy memory. 'Kisame...'
Konohamaru flinched and quickly looked back, finding himself looking directly into Itachi's eyes. "Itachi!" Konohamaru quickly squandered his voice to keep from speaking too loudly, he knew it didn't take much to wake up Kisame. "Don't sneak up on me like that."
"Watching Kisame?" Itachi smirked with his own amusement as Konohamaru became flustered and a blush flushed across his cheeks. 'Heh.'
"No." Konohamaru shook his head with denial. "I was thinking about something." He attempted to clarify, even though he was lying.
Itachi sat down beside him, lifting one leg onto the coffee table resting in the center of the room. "Thinking about what?"
Konohamaru was silent for a moment, the small wondering in his mind of Itachi inquiring about him in his own introverted and indirect way. As strong and able as he was, he was also prideful, too prideful to ask the well being of the boy. He was like Kisame in this way, Kisame had the same problem, only eventually Kisame would repress whatever embarrassment he had and ask about his condition in a blunt statement. "Itachi...Have you ever seen something that you know you couldn't have, but your completely sure you did?"
"No."
"It figures." Konohamaru sighed, his fingers playing over the case in his hands, the feel finally reminded him to the object. A pair of black sunglasses he hadn't been able to let go of since the day prior. He looked down at Ebisu's favorite possession, in object that could rival Konohamaru's favor of his scarf. "Oh yeah, Itachi..." Konohamaru reached into the part of the blue scarf wrapped around his neck like a wide collar and slipped out a small case. "What is this?"
Itachi took the black case from Konohamaru's hand, looking through the clear top to a small black square surrounded by padding, a few numbers written across the surface, and the word 'ROM' stood out in particular. "Where did you get this?"
"I found it back in Sound." Konohamaru told him, still staring down at Ebisu's sunglasses in his hands.
Itachi handed the object back to him. "It's a rom-bios chip."
"Oh...what is it?"
"It holds start up information for a computer, it needs it to function."
Konohamaru nodded in understanding, so what was this thing for, and why was Orochimaru carrying it around? "Hmm..."
! - ! - !
! - ! - !
Kakashi let out a soft breath as he entered his apartment and pushed the door closed behind him. He didn't get more then a few steps farther before a soft beep began to emit from his waist. '!' Kakashi knew the sound well, though he wasn't expecting to hear it again so soon, or here for that matter. 'What the hell...?' Kakashi swiped the bomb detector off of his waist with one swift motion and looked at the screen with a quick glance. 'What the...'
To his surprise, it was sitting right in front of him, an open steel box on the kitchen table with circuitry and wiring completely exposed. 'Zabuza.' Kakashi looked over the half built device, and with an almost reflexive movement he pulled out a few of the wires, which he could identity with one look, and tossed them side.
Kakashi tensed when he felt a presence appear behind him with out the slightest hint, it took longer then he would have liked for him to sense the presence was familiar. Which left him with no problem with throwing a hard elbow back into the presence's face.
Zabuza staggered back a step from the blow that half crushed his nose. "Kakashi." With an aggravated grunt from the unforeseen attack, Zabuza didn't hesitate to throw a hard kick into Kakashi's back. Kakashi was knocked forward, falling to his knees, his chest crashing against the wall with a small grunt forced from his mouth. "Idiot." He snorted, one hand roughly clinching a fist full of Kakashi hair while he pressed his forearm against the back of Kakashi's neck and pinned his face against the wall.
"Is... that... so." The silver haired man forced out, his air way being pinned shut. Kakashi's hands planted themselves on top of the dry wall and pushed against it with all his strength, gaining himself a short elevation off the vertical surface. From there he was able to lift one leg and send a sharp kicking back into Zabuza's left knee. Zabuza fell off balance and Kakashi was easily able to pry himself out of the other man's hold, climbing to his feet and pivoting to face him. "What the hell are you doing?"
Zabuza took a small step forward after reclaiming his balance and threw a hard punch to Kakashi's face, "Me? I'm not punching people." Zabuza took a satisfaction in seeing his strike had hit with a hard enough force to cause the man to spill back against the same wall he'd just pined him against. Zabuza was physically stronger, though only a slight bit, certainly not to the extent of Gai's strength over both of them, but congruently Kakashi was slightly faster. Zabuza waisted no time throwing a right hook to his jaw.
Kakashi lifted his arm and entangled Zabuza's before he could make contact, then planted both hands on the man's shoulders and thrust the top of his head into Zabuza's. "Why the hell are you building a bomb on my table?" He asked, his voice calm with the usual cool he always spoke with. He drove his knee into the stunned Zabuza's stomach.
"Because I'm going to use it." He replied in a matter of factly tone, slipping his hands inbetween their bodies and catching Kakashi's knee. Then with swift movements he hooked his arm underneath Kakashi's elevated leg and wrapped his other arm around the bomb squad member's neck. With the visible tensing of his arm muscles he lifted the man's full weight off the ground, raising the large body above his head and then throwing him roughly into the wall.
"Ufff!" Kakashi's back slammed into the hard barrier and he slid to the floor with a loud clatter, his body shaking the ground subtly on impact. "Don't get cocky." Kakashi shot back. "I can do you one better." With an almost untraceably quick movement Kakashi rolled on to his stomach and bolted forward off the floor, wrapping his arms around Zabuza's waist before he could move out of range. Then he stood up completely, sweeping Zabuza off his feet at the same time as he lifted the man, and then threwing him upward by the capture hips. Zabuza was flung towards the ceiling, with his own reflexes he managed to press his hands against the overhead and keep from being cast into it. Then expectant of the motion, Kakashi slammed him back down to the ground hard enough to knock the wind audibly from his lungs. Because of the struggling he landed on his side, nearly dislocating his shoulder in the process.
"Not bad..." Zabuza took in a deep, gasping breath to reclaim the air driven from his lungs, then he quickly drew his legs from Kakashi's grasp. After a bare second of hesitance he lifted himself off the ground, balancing agilely on one hand, his body tilted on his side, and sent a swift kick across Kakashi's jaw to drive him back. The kitchen wasn't overly large, Zabuza quickly ran out of room and his foot hit the edge counter, which he used to his advantage, pushing off of it and driving another kick into the man's chest before flipping on to his feet.
Kakashi was knocked back into the wall, one hand clinching his chest where the last blow had come. Before he could recover and retaliate Zabuza pressed himself against him, hands clasped over his shoulder pinning him to the wall. "But I'm better." He said with a low, calm, dangerous voice, his fingers sliding up Kakashi's cheek teasing, slowly slipping into the edges of Kakashi's mask.
Kakashi pressed his hands against Zabuza's chest and pushed, attempting to pry the man away, but before he could manage to slip out of the confinement Zabuza's arms were wrapped tightly around him and he was locked in. "..."
Zabuza softly buried his face into Kakashi's neck, giving soft, chaste kisses from behind the bandages covering his mouth, keenly aware of Kakashi's breath growing harder against his shoulder. Finally he looked at Kakashi face to face, and tugged the other man's mask down completely, softly smirking to himself with a devilish look as he gased over the reviled features.
He leaned forward, his covered lips brushing against Kakashi's ear, softly whispering. "I'm better, Kakashi."
Kakashi tilted his head back and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. "No chance in hell."
"Really..." Zabuza nudged away the bandages around his mouth and hovered just above the skin of Kakashi's jaw, so close Kakashi could almost feel a fained connection. "Then why am I like this, and your like that?" Zabuza asked mockingly, slipping his knee inbetween Kakashi's leg and pressing his chest closer against man, farther implicating his position.
Kakashi let his head fall and duel tone eyes locked with Zabuza's, the lazy expression staring into the always serious. "Because I'm clearly the smart one."
Zabuza halted, his lips just before Kakashi's, merely a slight shift away from contact. Just one movement, one... small... movement... "So, you want me, come and get me." Zabuza whispered.
Kakashi merely leaned back into Zabuza's arms, his body relaxing slightly. Whispering back "I never make the first move."
! - ! - !
Iruka reached back, softly fumbling around a smooth, elevated surface until he felt the object he sought, a wrench, and picked it up... "Hmm..." Iruka looked up to e from where he resided in the cock pit of his wreaked plane and was currently working to bolting down everything. He had to admit, it was the most tedious part of his task, many of the bolts and nails and other things had to be tightened into place by hand where the location was to awkward to do it mechanically. The back left corner of the control panel mounted narrowly close beside the cockpit's frame was one of those places.
He sat on his knees, his body stretched out and turned awkwardly enough for his arm to slip into the narrow place to tighten that particular bolt. There was a small satisfaction in knowing there would be a panel here eventually and he'd never have to see this space again.
"Iruka!" A voice called out. "Hey, Iruka!"
"Konoha-" Iruka unfortunately lifted his head to fast and ended up slamming it into the frame of the closed windshield. "Ow..." Iruka rubbed the back of his head softly, thankful he hadn't installed the glass yet as he slipped through one of the wide openings. "Konohamaru?"
The boy looked around the wide, arching hanger that surrounded them, the concrete floor, the steel walls separating them from the level above. But his eyes were most readily drawn to Iruka's plane hanging from the ceiling by a multitude of thick chains, Konohamaru didn't even know they made them that large. "You did all of this yourself Iruka?" Konohamaru slipped his hands behind his head and took in the sight of an uncompleted air craft. Steel was sheeted over a flame resistant coating spayed over the frame, surrounding the wings and the hull, but the frame was still bare around the cockpit and a few spots on the top.
Iruka softly rubbed the scar abridging his nose with a small smile. "Not completely, I've had a lot of help from Asuma." Iruka planted his hand on the uncovered steel framing the cockpit and lept over it, landing with a soft clatter on the wing. "I got a few parts from the air force's treasury department." The brown haired man sat down on the tip, his legs hanging off in a child like manner as he dropped his hands into his pockets and leaned forward. "What are you doing here?"
Konohamaru came just underneath the wing and looked up at the man, now that he was closer and more light was upon his body, he could see his clothes were dirtied with dirt and oil, a small smudge of the black fluid smeared over his cheek from any manner of locations. "I came to give you this." He reached into his pocket and drew out the black case, giving it a small glance before he tossed it up to Iruka. Turning away with a small wave and running away. "I found it in Sound, Orochimaru dropped it." He called back before disappearing beyond the door.
"Wha-What? Orochimaru?" When he heard that Iruka nearly dropped it, but he snatched it out of the air and reclaimed a firm grip on it. "Konohamaru, wait a minute!" He called out, but by that time the boy was long gone, which made him even more curious as to what he'd just been given... Iruka looked down at it and the second his eyes met it he knew what it was, just... not it's purpose. 'Huh?'
"Iruka."
Iruka was so wrapped up in thought, the sound of his own name made him flinch, and for the second time he nearly dropped the case. That was the last thing he wanted to do. "Huh?"
Asuma slipped his hands into his pocket and looked up at Iruka from underneath the wing. "You look out of it, what are you thinking about?"
Iruka pushed himself off the wing and landed beside Asuma, holding up the case. "Konohamaru just gave this too me." His words held a suspicious curiousness to them, wondering first and foremost why Konohamaru had kept it from him so long. "He said Orochimaru dropped it back in Sound."
He needed only hear the word Orochimaru and already Asuma's interest was peeked . "Really..."
Iruka reached over to a chart nearby and grabbed a towel, softly wiping his hands."Got in plans today?"
"The hell with those, we have to find out what's on this."
! - ! - !
"No way in hell dobe." Sasuke rested his hands on his waist, speaking in firm manner that clearly meant the subject wasn't up for discussion. The flashlight in his hand shined downward across the ground, reaching deep into one of the many dark corners that resided down below the earth. He'd been searching the maze like paths of he basement underneath his house for a longer time then he would have liked, but he found Naruto by following the sounds, it wasn't hard.
Naruto let the bulky Gattling gun on his shoulder tilt down and rest on the dusty ground, it was so large, or he was just simply so short, that Jiroubou's weapon nearly spanned his entire body height. "Aw Sasuke!" He half-wined. "What are you so worried about?" Naruto's voice echoed off the stone walls, once smooth and strait were now protruding outward in uneven ledges and had sunken in considerably after who knew how many years. These passages in the basement had been here for more generations then Sasuke knew of. However, Naruto didn't seem to realize this.
Sasuke rolled his eyes in slight aggravation. "Old walls don't make good target's for practice idiot!"
Naruto shook his head with a discarding snort, slipping his hand underneath the rotating barrels and lifting the gun. "You worry to much, these are sold rock, a few bullets wont hurt." With an anxious smirk and a hasty energy coursing through his blood, he planted one foot behind him and pulled the trigger. The barrel began a quick spin and bullets spewed fourth a quick roar of spewed rounds in bright, split second flashes of muzzle fire illuminating the dark underground room.
Sasuke winced at the loud sounds that echoed off the empty walls and broken brick floors, he didn't know how Naruto could stand it. 'Hell if he can stand the sound of his own loud mouth I guess this is nothing.' Sasuke reached over and pushed the circular ring of barrels down, halting the fire . "Stop that!"
"See, hardly did anything at all." Naruto told him, picking up his own flash light and shining it on the wall he just fired upon. Besides the new holes, the wall was largely in tack.
Sasuke rubbed his temples, he felt a headache coming on. "Naruto, this basement is hundreds of years hold, if the noise doesn't make it cave in then those damn bullets will." Sasuke growled, the annoyment showing in his voice. He didn't liked the idea of his house falling through the ground. "This is stupid!"
Naruto grinned slightly, leaning toward Sasuke. "You want this gun don't you?" He half joked. "Your completely over reacting, what's the point of having a big basement if your not gonna use it?"
"Dobe, this is not how you use a..." Sasuke's words came to an unexpected stop as something else even better flooded into his mind, an idea... A satisfied smirk edged at his mouth and he looked down at the flashlight absentmindedly . "Didn't that monster come from somewhere down here? It was Nightmare wasn't it." He looked away innocently, as if he didn't know what he himself was talking about. "I've never really gone down here, who knows what else around this place, it's like a maze." Sasuke looked around thoughtfully, but shrugged and walked away. "But you have that gun, I'm sure you can manage. Just don't get lost."
Naruto flinched when he heard Sasuke's steps leave and the door shut the door behind him. "..." ... Suddenly Naruto began picking up sounds he never knew were there. "Oh shit..." His eyes shifted around nervously, his grip around the Gattling gun grew tighter. "Uh...Sasuke! Wait up!"
! - ! - !
"Stop! Stop!" Shikamaru clinched his throbbing forehead with both hands, Camera faithfully in his lap with the strap around his neck. He yelled a lot more loudly then he usually would have but this wasn't a normal situation, for him at lest.
At his friend's somewhat desperate plea, Lee slammed on the breaks, much to the dismay of Gai. 'No...' Gai cringed inwardly as he heard the sound of new tires skidding to a rough stop at the side of the road, normally he wouldn't have been so incline to the action, but he hated doing such actions when the tire's were new."Uhaa..." 'That's not good for the breaks...' The breaks were new too.
Lee turned around in the driver seat and looked back at Shikamaru how sat directly behind him on the white upholstery. "What! What! Are you alright?"
Shikamaru let out a strained groan, forcing one eye open to glance over at the future Lee siting worriedly beside him. "I can't take this." He coughed out, with a nauseous moan he opened the door and spilled out on the side of the highway, stumbling off the shoulder and into a grassy strip of land nearby. "Ohhaaa...Damnit." The world spun around before his eyes, his mind and his stomach certainly were doing the same, until finally he gave out and fell to the ground, landing on his back much harder then he anticipated. 'Ow...' His hands automatically clinched the camera that fell on to his chest.
Lee, the one from the future, was the first to his side, scrambling to the ground, hovering above him anxiously, "Shikamaru? What's wrong?" he was followed quickly by his own Lee and Gai on either sides. The sounds of cars passing loudly and in high traffic on the road near by made Shikamaru's headache worse.
"You." Shikamaru glared up at the Lee on the left, which he assumed was the one from the future, he got them confused sometimes. "This is your fault."
"What? What'd I do?"
"You talked me in to going along with this."
Gai lifted hand to his face and scratched his cheek softly with his index finger, some subtitle habit he'd had for as long as he could remember. "Shikamaru, are you feeling sick?" He asked needlessly, he already knew the answer though, he'd seen this quite a few times, from some of his friends in particular.
Shikamaru clinched his eyes shut "Yes..."
Gai sighed and nodded. "Yeah, motion sickness."
Lee, the one from the past, looked down at the nauseous boy questioningly. "Wait, you've never gotten motion sickness before."
Shikamaru clasped his hands over his head again, "No. But I certainly have it now." He half mumbled bitterly, staring up at the sky drifting lazily overhead, at lest this was calming. So he tried his best to focus on it, he loved the sky, the clouds, maybe if he just stared at them this would dull some. "But I've never been in a car with you before." His eyes drifted to the right where his Lee resided, green suit contrast to the sky. Nope, wasn't helping.
"Really...you think it's me?" The subject Lee glanced back at Gai's car with an self-consciously.
"I'm pretty sure of it." Gai folded his arms and nodded confidently.
"Yeah, it's you." Lee's counter part agreed.
"...I didn't think my driving was that bad."Lee sighed, dropping his head with a small embarrassment.
It was. If Gai was impulsive, Lee was ten times worse.
"Well for your first time, I guess it's normal." The future Lee said sympathetically, attempting to console him.. "Since your from the past and all."
"Uhaaa..." Shikamaru rolled on to his side and inanely curled in, divided between clinching his stomach and clinching his camera. His stomach was twisting knots and his head felt like something was about to burst out of it.
"Shikamaru..." Lee, from the past, placed his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, unsure of what he was suppose to be doing, what he could be doing for the other boy. "Sorry...but still it couldn't have been me."
"It had to be." Lee's counter part shrugged.
"No way, I mean we were in the car with Gai-sensei driving, and I can count two times it was much worse then me." Lee said surely. "He dove out of a building while a tornado was coming, if that didn't make Shikamaru sick, there was no way I could have."
Lee, the one from the future, looked up at Gai with a small astonishment. "When was this?"
"It was during the storm." Gai told him.
"That is so cool!"
"Hnnnnggaaa." Shikamaru curled in farther, his left hand drifting away from the camera and clinching his right arm sub-consciously. "Damn...it."
Lee, from the future, took a quick look around them, then back down at Shikamaru curled up in the grass. "Hey wait...shouldn't motion sickness pass when the person is...not in motion?"
Gai looked over at both Lees, one of them, which ever one it was, was right. And Shikamaru could probably handle something like motion sickness a lot better then this. "Yes...it should." Gai slipped his hands over Shikamaru's shoulder and held the boy down flat on to his back. "Shikamaru, are you alright?"
"..." Shikamaru bit down on his bottom lip and tried to keep from screaming. "No..."
Lee, from the future, looked around again, as if he could find the source of this problem out there. Maybe he could, because he was drawing a blank here. "What's wrong with him?"
Lee, from the past, noticed something that seemed rather minuscule at first, but when he thought about it... "He's holding that arm..." Lee laid his hand softly on Shikamaru's right arm. "You arm hurts?"
Shikamaru nodded, his breathing heavy and his heart pounding as if it decided to run a race with out him.
"So what do we do about it?" Lee's counterpart asked, he was keenly aware of the current status of Shikamaru and his arm, something that could only be classified as a really extreme, and random, allergic reaction.
"I... don't know, but he can't just lay here." Gai said, slowly scooping Shikamaru into his arm and lifting him off the ground. "Come on."
! - !- !
"Thanks for leaving me!" Naruto shouted angrily, he pushed open a small door concealed in the wall beside the stairs that had closed on it's behind Sasuke. The living room was bright enough to force Naruto's eyes into a squint having just come from the dark dept of the basement, if it could be called that.
Sasuke looked over his shoulder, as if he hadn't been aware of Naruto's presence behind him. "Leave you? Your the one that wanted to stay down there." Sasuke replied, in that usual discarding, uncaring voice he always spoke with.
A voice that never failed to infuriate Naruto. Naruto immediately ran to catch up with Sasuke, leaning over his shoulder with an angry glare. "Your such a bastard."
"And your an idiot." Sasuke shot back.
Naruto growled furiously, pointing at the other boy accusingly. "You were really gonna leave me down there!"
Sasuke only shrugged, slipping beyond the couch and heading for the stairs."You went down their by yourself, you can find your own way out."
Naruto loudly dropped the large weapon he'd been so intent on practicing with, listing to it land on the hard wood with an echoing clatter. "I could have been eaten!"
Sasuke smirked with amusement, looking at Naruto fully this time. "Tch. What would want to eat you?"
Nope, Sasuke never failed to infuriate him, with that voice, and those eyes, and that demeanor. "Sasuke."
"You guys never change."
Both Naruto and Sasuke paused and looked back towards the sound of the intruding voice, they both were a little surprised to see Konohamaru standing there, even more surprised to see a slightly cheerful expression on his face with the traces of a smile on his lips, caused by the current exchange going on in front of him.
Naruto and Sasuke both looked at each other with the same silent, unsure look, neither certain exactly what to do or say next. A small silence passed over the three of them, much too long then there should have been, Konohamaru's smile diminished. "Uh...Konohamaru, We couldn't find you yesterday." Naruto finally spoke up. "What happened to you, where'd you go?"
Using the words Kisame and Itachi in his explanation wouldn't be the best course of action, he should have known they'd ask this. "I was with Lee and Shikamaru last night, I thought they'd know more about it then I did."
The air tensed when the implication of Ebisu was implied. "Well...Are you...alright?" Sasuke asked, mentally kicking himself for becoming this way every time a situation like this arose. He could speak easily in any other situation, why did he act like this now?
Konohamaru glared back at Sasuke with his own anger. "I'm fine." He as really getting sick of hearing that.
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other again, and all Naruto could do was shrug, deciding to accept the answer for now. "Uh...alright..."
! - ! - !
! - ! - !
Iruka took in a deep breath and sunk into the chair, his head falling loudly onto the kitchen table and his eyes drifting lazily shut. "Uhaaannn..."
Asuma slipped into his apartment after Iruka, pushing the door softly shut behind him. "Iruka?" He slipped around the table, behind Iruka, leaning slowly over his shoulder and looking curiously upon the man's face. He couldn't help but smile when he saw the Iruka's features untense into a lazy relaxation and his breathing slow into a soft stirring. 'I guess it has been a pretty long day.'
It was fairly late by the time Asuma and Iruka returned. The chip Konohamaru gave them was no doubt important, anything that Orochimaru loses could be potentially important evidence. But they, by themselves, were unable to do it. So with their vocational duty in mind they took it back to their air base, on the other side of town, and turned it in. A piece of evidence that needed to be examined as soon as possible, but it turned out there was only one technologist on duty that could do it. At lest until the appropriate investigative branch got a hold of it So Iruka, being a pretty multifaceted technician himself, Iruka was called to help out. Asuma naturally stuck around, and he had to say, from what he understood of it, it was worth the waiting.
Asuma wrapped his arms around Iruka's chest, gently pulling the man off the table and upright in the chair with a strong embrace. "Let me sleep..." Iruka moaned softly, not even bothering to open his eyes.
Asuma rested his chin on Iruka's shoulder. "You don't wanna sleep here."
"Yes, yes I do." Iruka mumbled, letting the back of his head fall back on to the older man's shoulder, a soft warmth from the embrace surrounding his body and scent of Asuma and traces of smoke were inhaled with each breath.
Asuma's smile grew brighter, ruffling Iruka's drawn hair with his larger hands, almost child like in manner. "Alright, a little bit longer." He said, lifting his arm from around Iruka's chest and giving Iruka's head one last rub.
"Stop that." Iruka yawned, pushing Asuma's hand away and cracking his eyes open. "I'm not a little kid anymore, you have to stop doing that."
Asuma threw a dismissive wave back as he walked down the small hall leading from the kitchen, to the living room, to the bathroom, and ending at the bedroom. "Your still smaller then me."
Iruka rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms above his head, his mouth open wide with a deep breath. "So what..." He called back, propping his elbows on the table and cradling his head in his hands. "I'm not even that young anymore."
"Your still younger then me!" Asuma called back from, what it sounded like, the bed room.
Iruka's eyes drifted over to the window that rested over the kitchen sink, staring out at the night sky of Konoha and the bright city with a half sleeping gaze. It was late, surely after midnight. 'I wonder how Konohamaru's doing... I bet he went back to Sasuke's house by now... Too bad I didn't have time to call Kakashi, he really would have wanted to know what we found out. But I'm sure he'll hear about it in the morning, everybody's gonna hear about it in the morning... I wonder how Gai did, Lee's probably just as bad as he is...'
Iruka planted his hands on the table and slowly lifted himself up to his feet, pushing in the chair behind him and taking slow, heavy steps out of the kitchen. He was throughly satisfied with himself by the time he made it to Asuma's bed room for mustering the will power to move all this way, leaning against the doorway for support. By then Asuma had already stripped himself off his shirt and was now unbuttoning his pants. "Iruka." He smiled again he he saw the man standing there barely conscious, he quickly shoved his pants down and kicked them away after they pooled at his ankles, leaving him in nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs.
And as soon as Iruka saw Asuma's lack of clothing, and the formfitting attire, a bright flush came to his cheeks and he couldn't seem to figure out what to do with himself. He looked away, if he wasn't awake before he was certainly a lot more aware now.
An impish smirk appeared on Asuma's face when he saw the reaction that came over Iruka, just like always. Every time he was in this particular state of dress Iruka became as rambling and nervous as he did when he was a kid, he wasn't sure why it was Iruka was still this way after so long. But it was flattering at the lest.
By the time Iruka looked up again Asuma was standing in front of him, hanging over him close enough to make the man's blush grow deeper. "Asuma..."
"I couldn't resist." Asuma slipped a hand beneath Iruka's chin, admiring the tired features. Iruka always looked cuter when he was tired, he just...couldn't... Asuma lent down, pressing his lips against Iruka's and slipping his tongue into the still mouth. His eyes remained open, watching Iruka's blush grow deeper and his eyes drift shut.
It took a moment, Iruka finally gave in, he slipped his arms around Asuma's neck and leaned upward, trying to close height difference. An energy stirred in the pit of his stomach, blood rushing through his veins, heating his skin. "Asuma..." Iruka tilted his head back, silently withdrawing the kiss as he felt Asuma's arms wrap around his waist. "Eh?" Iruka couldn't hold back the galvanized squeak when he felt Asuma lifted him abruptly off of his feet.
Asuma set the man's back softly against the bed with the up most care and delicacy before he laid himself down atop Iruka, moving guardedly as if he'd possibly hurt him. Heat swelled upward from Iruka below, the warmth pressing against Asuma's torso from between Iruka's legs. "Asuma." Iruka looked up at him with a harsh expression, he was too tired for this!
Asuma's rather impish smirk grew wider as his hand slipped away from Iruka's waist and promptly cuffed over the man's crotch, his fingers pressing teasingly through the fabric of his pants, the source of the heat. Iruka drew in a sharp moan, the action wasn't helping his already prevalent blush. "Un..." Iruka tilted his head back, Asuma's other hand planted captivity on his chest, the man's mouth slipping way from his lips, softly kissing and sucking along Iruka's jawline.
Iruka was two far gone by the time Asuma's hand slipped down his chest, finger tips gracing across the soft skin of his stomach, tracing a decent to the waist band of his pants and quickly unbuttoning them. Asuma's tongue slipped out of his mouth and softly ran the wet flesh over the soft skin beyond Iruka's flesh, soft vibrations eliciting from another moan. 'He looks so cute like this.' Asuma admired the vision silently, watching Iruka's gentle features twinge with growing repression.
Asuma tugged Iruka's loosened pants down just past the man's knees and slipped his fingers into the blue boxers that resided there. "You look really cute like that." Asuma whispered, giving Iruka a soft kiss on the cheek before he removed his hand from Iruka's chest and sat up.
"Huh?" Iruka opened his eyes questioningly when he felt the soothing administrations cease, something that would have lulled him to a comfortable sleep had it continued, and he was hoping it would. He propped himself up on to his elbows and glanced down, watching with the flushed red burning across his cheeks as Asuma positioned himself in front of Iruka's hips. 'Asuma...?' He watched as Asuma pushed down his boxers, and his heated cock drifted free, standing completely erect before Asuma's eyes.
Asuma climbed on to his knees above Iruka, his waist clad in the black fabric sitting face to face with the other man, who only grew hotter at the sight. "Paying attention back there?" Asuma teased.
"Ah, um..." Iruka smiled with the same rambling nervousness, feeling embarrassed for spacing off at a time like this."I-! Un!" He jumped slightly when a warm jolt spasmed up his spine as Asuma ran his tongue across the head of his cock, making the hardened appendage twitch slightly. Asuma wrapped his hand around Iruka's member, his fingers gently massaging his balls.,
"Ahhaa..." One eye winced shut, his mouth falling open with a small breath. Finally after a few seconds of hesitation, Iruka reached up and wrapped his arms around Asuma's waist above him, pulling down the tight black fabric and watching the other man's hardened member protrude readily before his eyes. It was marginally larger then his own, he had to admit. 'Whoa...Asuma...' Iruka lent upward and slipped the length past his lips, sucking diligently.
Asuma gently stroked along the bottom Iruka's member with his thumb, the tip of his tongue dragging through the small, sensitive crevice under the head Iruka's cock with skillful licks. He could feel the man begin to squirm underneath him, a soft moan slipping from Iruka, sending vibrations shaking along his member. "Uh..." Asuma wrapped his arms around Iruka's legs and held him still, taking the peak of Iruka's length into his mouth to flicking his tongue across the slit weeping with pre-cum.
"A-Asuma..." Iruka winced again and nearly pulled Asuma in too far, sucking the warm flesh harder. It was a little awkward for him, Asuma was large enough to make it difficult to do much in this position. So he slipped his hand down Asuma's waist, his fingers dragging down the firm ass until they were pressed against the ring muscles of the man's entrance. Iruka swirled his tongue over the head of Asuma's cock, taking hard sucks as he pushed his fingers into the tight opening.
"Uhn!" Asuma tensed, nearly bitting down on Iruka from the new pleasure drifting across his body. But he kept himself still, resting duel urges to buck back against Iruka's finger and thrust down into his mouth. Instead he tilted Iruka's cock back and lapped his tongue along the bottom of Iruka's member, before wrapping his mouth around Iruka completely.
"A...Asum...Unn..." Iruka's arms tightened around Asuma's hips and he tensed, then with a sharp exhale he lost his will, the anxious energy Asuma's actions energy were creating sent nervous jolts threw his body, and inevitably it became much to strong, he began to thrust upward into the wet warmth.
Asuma was surprised at this, but he quickly accommodated, his fingers clinching Iruka's leg steadily. Heat gathered as Iruka's blood pumped faster through out his body, his cock throbbed and twitched slightly, the small tremble growing stronger and stronger. '!' "Uhaa!" Iruka's mouth closed tightly around Asuma and he took a forceful, pressured suck, his whole body spasming as he came. "Asuma-sama!" He shouted as the warm seed spurted from his cock into Asuma's mouth, overflowing enough to for a subtle trail of cum to drip across the base of the softening member.
"Asuma..." Iruka cringed softly until all at once some invisible pressure faded and he finally relaxed with a tired sigh and heavy, warm breaths, taking soft, docile licks across the head of Asuma's cock. His finger gently messaged the inner muscles, pressing against the sensitive inward walls.
Asuma fell on to Iruka, his head resting on Iruka's leg, inhaling the distinct scent with every breath. The sense was sensually amazing, washing along his body from Iruka's fingers in his body and Iruka's mouth around him. The movements now were small and calm, but each one of them set his nerve endings on fire "Iruka..." He bit down on his bottom lip, his body growing ridge as cum streamed from his erection, filling Iruka's mouth and streaming down his chin with a small drop of saliva.
Asuma rolled over lazily, feeling his waist slipping out of Iruka's lose grasp. "Iruka?" Asuma lifted his head and looked curiously upon the man, finding his eyes closed and his features at a peaceful ease. 'He's asleep... I guess he was tired.'
Asuma smiled to himself again as he watched the calm traits of the man's face, crawling upward and giving him a soft kiss on the cheeks. "Good night...Iruka." Asuma laid beside him, wrapping his eyes around Iruka's back and pulling him close. Asuma tucked Iruka's head beneath his chin, and Iruka inanely snuggled closer to the older man with out consciousness. 'He really is cute when he's sleeping.' Asuma thought, his hand gently digging themselves into the long brunette strands of hair.
He couldn't help but watch admiringly.
! - ! - !
