Title: A.I. Robot.

(A.I as in 'artificial intelligence', and AI as in 'love')

Pairing: Naru/Sasu

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: "Naruto", yeah I don't own it; not mine. I just borrow Masashi's characters and replace them in naughty positions, and I mean really naughty positions.

Summary: The year is 2259, Kohonagakure Japan. Naruto Uzumaki's life has never had it easy- school, work, friends (or the lack of) are already dragging him down but to fall in love with a robot... fate must hate him.

A/N: Sorry for the delay guys… work/school are predominant stuff. I do not own the copyright of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.


Chapter Five: The Devil He Knew….


The bleeping of Naruto's old phone was getting on the Uzumaki's nerves. Every time it went off Sasuke's head would swivel to it and though the robot's face did not move, curiosity shone in Sasuke's dark eyes. He studiously ignored it. There was an assignment on an electrical relay system that he needed to build at the end of the semester and he had no time for Iruka. His jaw firmed and he went back to the textbook.

It was not that he did not like or appreciate the older man who had tried to be a father to him but… the one time he had needed him the most, the man had not been there. It was a bit nonsensical if he thought about it if he factored all the time Iruka had been there against the one he had not but…logic was in control of that part of his brain.

This time the phone rang and Naruto ignored it. It rang out to voicemail. Ten seconds later it rang again and Naruto ignored it again, with his fist clenching at his side. Didn't Iruka know when to give up? The phone rang again and then suddenly, it was cut off. Naruto was grateful before…

"Naruto?"

The blond jerked, spinning in disbelief at Iruka's voice coming from… Sasuke. The robot's head was down and his eyes were half-mast. Naruto did not know where exactly the voice was coming from. There were no obvious ports or open portals or nothing. But Iruka Umino's voice was coming from Sasuke. Somehow the fucking robot had intercepted the call and answered it for him. Motherfucker. He's needed a long talk with Sasuke when this was over.

"Naruto, are you there?"

Forcing his jaw open, Naruto' said. "Yes. I'm here..."

An audible sigh came from Sasuke. "Oh, good. I was worried," the man laughed nervously. "Um… how's school?"

Glaring at Sasuke, Naruto said as calmly as he could. "Fine…everything's fine."

"…That's good."

An awkward silence began to stretch into painful until Iruka said. "Naruto…can we talk. Please. I…I have to speak with you. I cannot let this distance grow between us much longer. I am.. I…You know that I love you as my own son. I do. Please can we talk?"

Just as Naruto was going to give the man a flat dismissal, Sasuke's head lifted and Naruto was arrested by Sasuke's eyes. They were soft, liquid… almost humanlike. What. The. Fuck. Sasuke did not speak but Naruto felt that the robot was telling him to say yes, to go see his old teacher.

"…Naruto?" Iruka asked. "…Are you there?"

Not moving his eyes Naruto nodded, not remembering that Iruka could not see him. "Um…yeah. Sure. Are you still at Hokage Head Planes?"

"Yes," Iruka said with relief heavy in his voice. "Is tomorrow at about six good for you?"

He had thought of going to check Shikamaru tomorrow at that time but the tech genius had not contacted him with any breakthroughs he had about Sasuke. "Yeah…see you tomorrow then."

The audible click of the call disconnecting, was more of a gong than a click in Naruto's ear. He then glared at Sasuke. "Sasuke…what the hell? Who gave you permission to answer that call for me? I ignored it for a reason."

"You…sad…angry…hopeful." Sasuke said slowly as if he was spelling out the words in his brain first before speaking them. "You wanted to."

Huffing, Naruto grunted, "No. I did not."

"Yes, you did," Sasuke said.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto gave up on arguing with the robot. Sasuke had probably scanned the air around him and had analysed the faint secretions of his hormones through his skin. He glanced back at the borrowed textbook and felt every intention of studying vanish from him. Fuck it, he knew half the material anyway.

Sagging back in his seat, Naruto scrubbed his face. "I'm gonna take a shower. Don't go anywhere."

He stripped his shirt off before going to the cubicle and turned in the water. The cold water didn't register much as most of his thoughts were on seeing Iruka, his grade school teacher and the head overseer of the orphanage. He had not seen him in over eight months. What on earth could the man want to speak about now? There was nothing he could consider so he shut off the water, stepped out and grabbed a towel.

Towel drying his hair, Naruto wrapped the terry cloth around his hips and walked out. He walked back out to see Sasuke at his desk, pen in hand and swiping over it gracefully. Curious, Naruto went over to him and peered over the robot's shoulder. On the paper, traced out in perfect line was an electric system relay that felt drawn by the world's best architect.

"… Holy fucking shit, Sasuke," Naruto said in awe. "What system is that?"

Sasuke twisted his arm and with a sudden flash of Sasuke's eyes, the robots fucking arm's skin went transparent. There, Naruto saw silver controllers, connectors and flashing sensors over a motherboard. Blue lights were rippling over the miniscule relays and doubling back in flashes. Naruto's blue eyes flashed back to the paper; it was Sasuke's arm, lacking the hand and fingers.

He looked and noted the markings about what metal alloy, sensors, and millimeters of fiber optic wires to use.

"Sasuke…" Naruto said incredulously, "…I can't buy this shit. The wires alone are like three times my rent money."

"My money," Sasuke said simply.

"Fuck. No," Naruto said staunchly. "Buying me food is one thing but I am not fucking let you buy me stuff that anyone in the university is going to know I couldn't afford anyway. I will not let you buy me this, understood."

Naruto swore he saw a smirk in Sasuke's eyes but it was not mirrored in his face, so maybe he was wrong. Sasuke nodded. Sighing, Naruto went to get dressed in a pair of boxers and sweatpants before flopping on the bed. He sighed and faintly felt the bed dip. Before he could shift, Sasuke was hovering over him. The robot's eyes were dark and analytical. Naruto shifted and immediately regretted it. Sasuke's body slipped between his legs and his crotch was pressed against Naruto's. It fucking sucked that the robot's skin was not metallic anymore and had the same silky warm feel as a human.

"Wanna get off me sometime?"

Sasuke's hand lifted and ran over his face, scanning him again. He then dropped it, "…You…worried? Why?"

"I…" Naruto bit his lip only to have Sasuke's hand prying his jaw down and the touch sent a rush of unreasonable warmth run through him. "I haven't seen Iruka in months. I left the orphanage at twelve with a foster family but went back at fourteen. I emancipated at fifteen and got a job while going to school. I kept touch with Iruka…well, he kept touch with me but…"

His fingers absentmindedly skimmed over his face where the marks were on his cheeks. To his horror- or delight- Sasuke's hands followed and traced over the marks. Again, Naruto shifted uncomfortably under Sasuke. "A few guys held me down and cut these into my face. Iruka would have normally made rounds in the dorms to check on us, but this time he didn't. The blocked the door and I bled for hours. By the end, I hated him. I felt betrayed."

Sasuke was sitting on his thighs by that time and Naruto was getting hard. He didn't make the mistake again of trying to move the robot so he just laid there, suffering in silence.

"For…gi…ve him," Sasuke said slowly before lifting himself off Naruto.

Staring at the robot, Naruto grimaced at little while picturing the most disgusting thoughts to rid himself of the misbegotten hard-on. "From the mouths of robots."

The next morning, Saturday, Naruto went to work at the ramen restaurant and hustled back home to shower and change into acid-wash jeans and a dark orange t-shirt. Iruka's place was a 30-minute train ride from his part of town and he was taking Sasuke with him. Thankfully, the ID card from the Uni had a few perks, he was given ten tokens for free train rides every month and he had not used one of them since starting the course two years ago. He had about 200 stored up.

Getting to the station on foot was a bit harrowing, well for the people who did not know Sasuke. Naruto saw a woman walk right into a light post while staring at Sasuke. Sasuke did not even notice. Getting to the train, Naruto ran his ID through the auto-port and select two round trip tickets. Sasuke's hands were stuck in his pockets and his aristocratic face drew more eyes and attention than Naruto was happy with.

Sasuke sat with a humanlike slouch which surprised Naruto but then again, he should not have been as every-fucking-thing about this robot surprised him. The half-hour trip again incurred glances and gawks from everyone in a ten-foot radius of Sasuke. As per his condescension, Sasuke did not even return their looks though Naruto was 110% sure the robot knew down to the DNA makeup of everyone who looked at him. Every ten minutes or so, Sasuke skin shimmered silver but as his skin was so pale, it was not noticeable to anyone who did not know him- but Naruto did.

Per usual, he did not ask and just turned his attention to trying to figure out why Iruka wanted to speak to him. They got off at the terminal and Naruto hailed a robotized cab to carry them to Iruka's house. His apprehension, growing every moment. Iruka's place was a trendy 2230 place with the right amount of traditional makeup with technology inserts.

Naruto stopped at the makeshift torii arch styled gates and pressed the intercom button. Soon, Iruka's voice came through. "Konichiwa?"

He cleared his throat, "Um…it's me Naruto."

"Oh," Iruka said with a happy tone. "Oh come in."

The buzz came a second before Naruto pushed the door in and took the gravel path up to the front door, halfway cognizant of Sasuke beside him. He got the door and knocked with the antique knocker. Shifting uneasily on his feet, Naruto had to wait a moment before the door was pulled in and his old teacher/orphanage manager/pseudo-dad answered.

Iruka was…. smaller than Naruto had last seen him or maybe he was just that taller, about a good seven inches over the man's five foot something. His warm brown eyes had not changed much, except the faint crow's feet at the side of his eyes. His spiky brown hair was pulled into his traditional ponytail and the scar across his nose was the same too. Iruka's smile spread to his eyes and he stepped back.

"Naruto, I'm so glad to see you," Iruka Umino said. He then peered over Naruto's shoulder and his eyes widened. "Who's this…a new boyfriend?"

Red threatened to coat Naruto's face, "Um…no. Not my boyfriend, Iruka-sensei, he's just a PCC."

Wonder lit Iruka's eyes, "He looks…alive."

"I know," Naruto said uneasily. The house was not that much different from when he had been there 10 years ago, except the couches. The old beige cotton was replaced by a sectional of the replica-leather and white cotton loveseat. Feeling immensely uncomfortable, Naruto chose to stand while Iruka went to the kitchen. The smell of Miso ramen was in the air and though Naruto was touched that his old sensei had gone to the trouble to home-make his favorite meal but felt… odd.

He went to the kitchen and pressed his lips tightly to see the man bustling around stirring pots and checking an oven. He shifted again. "…Iruka-sensei…um…" What do you want from me? Why am I here? Is there something I should know about? What's going on?

"…Do you need some help?" He finally asked with a cringe, knowing dam well that there was nothing he could do to help.

"No," Iruka laughed. "I'm fine here."

Relived, he went back to the sitting room to see Sasuke staring at a wall covered with framed pictures. One was of Iruka's parents, a few people Naruto remembered from the orphanage, and then there was one with him at eight years old. In the background was the old orphanage.

"You," Sasuke said.

"No shit, Sherlock," Naruto said testily. He still did not know why he was there and the mystery was clawing at his skin. Then the door opened, making Naruto spin on his heel. Had Iruka invited more people?

Standing just inside was a man, tall and slender with a shock of wild silver hair and a curious mask covering half of his lower face while a black headband covered his right eye. "Oh."

"Who're you?" Naruto asked, shifting in case there was going to be a fight. His logic had gone out of the window as no burglar had keys to a person's home.

"Naruto?" Iruka called from the kitchen. "Who's there?"

Before Naruto could say anything, Iruka stuck his head around the corner. "Oh, Kakashi, it's you."

"Eh," Kakashi shrugged. "Were you expecting another boyfriend?"

Naruto's head snapped between the two, "… Boyfriend, sensei?"

Iruka was red-faced, "Why don't you two…talk. Get to know each other. I'm getting dinner out soon."

Not wanting to have another complication stopping him from leaving soon, Naruto did not want to disrespect Iruka for asking them to do something so simple and stuck out his hand., "Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you."

"Hatake Kakashi," the older man said through his mask. "Nice to finally meet you, Naruto."

"What do you mean nice to finally meet me?" Naruto asked with a frown.

Kakashi moved over to the replica-leather sectional and they sat. The man was tall and was about five inches over Naruto's 6 foot. Iruka would look downright diminutive standing next to him. Naruto did not even want to know how they worked out the mechanics of sex.

"Iruka always speaks about you," Kakashi said simply while crossing his legs. "He says that you were his best student and charge."

"Best student and charge?" Naruto said incredulously. He fought off an urge to laugh like a loon. "I was his worst nightmare. I was a troublemaker and got nearly zeroes in all my schoolwork. I gave him hell."

"Not true," Iruka said while coming into the room. "Well…yes, some of that was true. But while others saw the trouble in you, I saw the potential in you. I saw how your eyes would study everything around you and hang onto every word. You were a smart kid, Naruto, but grades were the only thing we used to judge them back then. We know better now and you gaining that scholarship at the Uni is proof."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, "Um…thanks."

Iruka smiled. "Hungry?"

"Um, yeah," Naruto said while Kakashi's eye slipped to Sasuke, curiosity plain in his blue eye. "He's a PCC, Hatake-san."

"Really," the man purred, like a cat. "I've never seen this model before."

"No one has," Naruto said. "I went to an old friend of mine who told me that…" then a memory of when Sasuke had shown him about his bank account slammed into Naruto's head like a freight train. Hatake! The man's name was Sakumo Hatake. Was this his son or something?

"Um," Naruto wondered how to phrase it, but then blurted out the question anyway. "Are you Sakumo Hatake's son?"

The lone eyebrow the silver-haired man had disappeared into his hair. "…Yes…why?"

How the hell was he going to explain his random question? "Erm… You see I found Sasuke in the trash one night and well, he could not speak or anything like that so I thought his voice disk was damaged. He had crazy motion skills and can run and jump like a fuck- um sorry- ninja. So, I took him to see this guy to see if he could get fixed and shit, but that… that's not the reason." Naruto gulped in a breath. "One day he bought me a shit-tonne of groceries and when I asked where he got the money from he showed me an account with the name Sakumo Hatake as the holder of four million yen that he left Sasuke to repair himself."

His spiel was met with wide eyes and after the awkward silence dragged out into the pained version, Kakashi shook his head. "…I did not know much about my father. I was raised by my mother mostly as my dad was at work in robotics for many years. I do have access to his old notebooks and records but I have not looked at those in years."

"Oh," Naruto breathed while scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry man, I did not want to make you…uncomfortable and sh-stuff."

"Mah," Kakashi waved him off. "I remember too little about my dad to be bothered. I know he was crazy about robots and he sent us enough money to keep us for years but…why would he sponsor a robot, I wonder."

"01010000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100 00100000," Sasuke suddenly said. "01010011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01101111 01100010 01101001."

Every head snapped to him, eyes wides as pies. "What?"

"01010000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100." Sasuke repeated more slowly. "01010011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01101111 01100010 01101001."

Naruto's brain finally connected, "Is…is that binary?"

Sasuke nodded, only to make Naruto more confused, "Why? Binary's been outdated for a hundred and fifty years."

"Then why?" Iruka asked.

Scrubbing his hands through his hair, Naruto asked. "Iruka-sensei do you have any paper and a pen around here?"

Stupid question asking a teacher for pen and paper, especially one with a penchant for nostalgia.

"Yes," Iruka said evenly while scrambling around for the items asked for. Handing them over, Naruto took them with a smile and sat.

"Sasuke, repeat that?"

"01010000 01110010 01101111 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100 00100000 01010011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01101111 01100010 01101001," Sasuke said slowly while Naruto scribbled.

The two men sat still while Naruto worked, deciphering the binary into words. It was lovely to see the tiny frown in the middle of his brow. He worked quickly, only pausing a moment to think back and remember how to translate the numbers into words. When he finished the translation, he stopped. "Huh…what the heck is Project Shinobi?"

Kakashi's head snapped up. "Pardon?"

"Project Shinobi," Naruto replied. "That's what the binary means. Why, does it mean anything to you?"

The man lips were thin. "…I remember my father saying those words but he never explained what they meant… well not entirely. I didn't even know if it was a thing. My father tended to mumble to himself, I thought it was gibberish."

"But they do mean something," Naruto said with a downturn of a corner of his lips. "Do you think you could… find out?"

"I could," Kakashi nodded. "But my father was sort of eccentric. He did not leave anything pivotal on disks or anything. It's all on paper files in a lock-up in a storage house in Kohona. What I do know is that it's something about creating a line of super-soldiers for the army."

Naruto's head snapped to Sasuke before returning to the man, "Super…soldiers, from men or machines?"

"…I don't know really," Kakashi said with a twist of his lips. "I'd have to go through his records first."

The awkward silence returned only broken by Iruka saying, "Well, dinner is ready. Ready to eat?"

They went to the set table, and Naruto promptly forgot about Sasuke's binary riddle and dug into his food. The miso entrée was delicious, and so were the roasted chicken and braised potatoes that was the second course. Sasuke had wondered over to Iruka's bookcase and had plucked a book out. Naruto took quick glances at him but was more engrossed in his food.

Declining desert, Naruto wondered over to Sasuke and stopped near him. "What you got there?"

Sasuke flipped the cover over and handed it to him. Naruto read, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Frowning, Naruto took it. "Huh?"

Opening the book back, Sasuke pointed, "It's illegal," Rick said, knowing the law about that. "Sure it's illegal. But most variations in sex are illegal. But people do it anyhow."

"What about - not sex - but love?"

"Love is another name for sex."

"Like love of country," Rick said. "Love of music."

"If it's love toward a woman or an android imitation, it's sex. Wake up and face yourself, Deckard. You wanted to go to bed with a female type of android - nothing more, nothing less.

Whoa! Whoa! What the fuck? Where the hell did this come from? Sex…with an android? How fucking old was this book anyway? People stopped making books from paper from 2050. This had to be ancient or remastered.

"Naruto?" Iruka asked. "Are you okay?"

"Um, yeah, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said while waving the book. "Where did you get this?"

"Oh," Iruka said coming closer, "It an old book and I mean old. It was first published in 1968."

"What?" Naruto barked, almost dropping the book like it was a bomb. "Why do you have a 300-hundred-year-old book in your house?"

"Because it's a classic," Iruka said. "You can borrow it if you want."

"Um, n-" Naruto was about to refuse but a glance at Sasuke's face stalled him. "Um, yeah, I guess thanks."

At that time Kakashi wondered from the bathroom, put his hand around Iruka's neck and kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks, sweetheart, that was lovely. I'd stay but I have to get to work early tomorrow, or else you know I'd love to…" Kakashi trailed off waggling his brows, not too subtly.

Iruka slapped him. "Not tonight, lech,"

Kakashi laughed. "Well next time. Naruto, do you have a phone number where I can get to you?"

"Um yeah," Naruto said while Kakashi's hand lifted to activate his watch and reciting a number, Naruto said his name to seal the contact in the device.

"Great," Kakashi said while kissing Iruka once more, "Can I drop you guys off at the train station?"

"Okay, sure," Naruto said, not willing to give up a free lift. "Sasuke, ready?"

Sasuke nodded after Naruto turned to Iruka, he said, "Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka looked troubled before he spoke, "I am sorry Naruto. I know I failed you many years ago and…and I hated that I was not there for you. I cannot apologize enough and I…. please forgive me. I want to help you in any way I can."

An audible sigh left Naruto. "I…know, and I am sorry for being such an ungrateful bastard for so many years. I remember all the things you did for me, Iruka-sensei and I…I think I should ask your forgiveness too."

The diminutive man hugged him, and pulled back with tears bright in his eyes, "We're okay?"

"We're okay," Naruto assured him.

Slipping into Kakashi's Occulus car that had the option of wheels as well as boosters, Naruto slipped into the backseat and smiled faintly. He'd been apprehensive going there but the night had turned out better than he had thought. He'd found one more clue into finding out what and who Sasuke was. The road, lit by hydrogen fluorescent lights in the median and overhead did not overpower the fireflies and the planes high overhead.

Kakashi dropped them off at the terminal with another promise to get to his father's records before saying goodbye. Naruto checked in their tokens and they went to take their seats. However, before the train moved off, the intercom chipped in. "Attention passenger, a few representatives from Amaterasu Inc are staging a search for a robot that escaped it's convoy to the company's headquarters. They will be quick and the delay will be only fifteen minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience."

With Iruka's book in his hand, Naruto snapped his head to Sasuke who looked unbothered. "Sasuke-" Naruto tried to hiss a question but the pneumatic doors opened and two men walked down the aisle, checking each row for the robot.

Sasuke still had not moved and Naruto's whose head was trained forward as they searched felt his heart thud in his ears. He sat still while the men passed by with a scanner in their hands and for the five longest seconds of Naruto's life, they passed by. Naruto did not even breathe until the door behind them closed and then he sagged. Were they looking for Sasuke? If, so, how did they miss him?

He forced his head around to see- a fucking empty seat. Naruto nearly had a heart attack. His fucking robot was going to kill him at nineteen. His tombstone would read, died of cardiac attack, brain aneurysm, and spontaneous combustion.

Naruto breathed out while Sasuke shimmered back into view. The only reason Sasuke would have cloaked himself was if he was the robot missing. God, what the fuck had he gotten himself into?


PS. Sorry for the long wait. Review damnit.