"Inside out"

by: solstice rhapsody 09

Warning: chara's OOC-ness, language, yaoi/shounen-ai, non-beta, blah blah blah.

Disclaimer: This fic is MINE, the plot is also MINE, the characters are also MINE, bwahahahahahaha- ok, reality check, the original ain't mine. BUT, this Naruto here belongs to- Sasuke?

Chapter Seven: "White Lies"

Naruto and I are friends, well...actually best friends, but that's uncalled for 'cause it's already evident. I was quiet and he was loud, I'm quite anti-social and he's friendly, I was lonely and he was too, and most of all, I have to meet him twice before we became friends(isn't that what you call destiny? but I don't believe in such crap).

It was my parent's plans a long time ago, I was to be sent to America after I turned on my 13th birthday. I knew almost everything about Naruto but he doesn't know much about me, maybe it's because he never cared about the family background but the actual person he's dealing with and that's what I like about him, because to him, in his eyes, I'm just Sasuke. Anyways, back to what I was saying a while ago, I did made friends with Naruto and I never told him about anything about me going away after my 13th birthday. Well, I didn't intentionally hide that fact from him, it wasn't like I expected that we'd turned out to be so close together and it was even harder for me to tell him about it when I started to fall in lo-

"Sasuke," a cold voice had called for the Uchiha, "you're spacing out."

"Ah," Sasuke uttered, not wanting to be caught brooding, "I...I'll be finished."

Referring to the medium-sized luggage Sasuke was packing; he finished placing some neatly folded clothes inside and continued on the other stack of clothes piled beside his bed. His older brother, Itachi, leans on the door frame watching him fix his stuffs. The day was starting to darken and the pale moon was also starting to appear in the horizon of weary clouds, and the light that illuminates Sasuke's room is also starting to create a dramatic volume -making it seem like a moment of spotlight to Sasuke.

"Still thinking about that kid?" Itachi shifts to the left side of the door frame.

"No," Sasuke sternly answered, making him sound defensive.

"It would be better if you'd tell him the truth," Itachi continues, "Or I'll make you tell him the truth."

Sasuke paused from what he was doing and massaged his temples for a minute, "I will tell him, I just need a perfect timing."

"Suit yourself, but it would be a pity if you prolong this fact from telling him, brother...besides, those who will suffer in the end is the both of you." Itachi warned his little brother, or at least sounded like warning him after closing the door behind Sasuke.

Sasuke only muttered a 'Hn' to his older brother, it was annoying but it was the truth and besides, that's his brother's purpose -annoy him.

His brother has gone outside his room but his words still echoes in his ears.

Yeah that's right, both of Naruto and I will suffer the consequences my actions will make. It's hard for me to tell him, I don't know what will his reactions would even be and I don't know how much that fact would cost our friendship, and of course, there's no way I won't be hurting his feelings even if he's kind...but then again, there's nothing that could prevent me from telling something I am responsible of. I just hope this confession wouldn't make any change or come between us two.

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'Here it is, before my upcoming birthday next month I have to confess the truth to Naruto.' A Sasuke calmy facade as Naruto was coming his way.

"Ne ne Sasuke, let's go home together!" the blonde ball of energy happily stated.

Sasuke only nodded and started to walk beside Naruto, not getting too close so as not getting tempted to hold the blonde's hand because the eyes of some femme were still boring daggers on their object of obsession; namely Uchiha Sasuke.

It was up until Sasuke sensed that they were stalker-free when he grabbed one arm of the wheat and yellow haired boy, which shocked the other one because of Sasuke's 'grabbing-Naruto-out-of-the-blue thingie.'

Sasuke hurried his pace but not too fast so as not to raise any suspiscion, he pulled Naruto into a corner within a dead-end area, facing him eye to eye and inhaled a lungful of air and exhailed.

"Uhm," Naruto squeaked, "you're not going to rape me, right?"

Sasuke frowned and made a disbelieving sigh and whacked Naruto's head, recieving an 'ouch' from the blonde.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Sasuke scolded, "So you were thinking I was going to...well, I could- but that's not the point."

Naruto could feel himself die from shame, how could've he been thinking about those stuffs? Maybe it's the side effect of spending too much time with Sasuke...gah! No no no, it was Sasuke's fault he drag him into a corner and looked like he was going to eat Naruto. Right? Right? Yes, that's right!

"uhm," Naruto coughed, "so what were you actually planning to do?"

Sasuke came back to his point and suddenly felt a lump stuck into his throat, maybe it's not as easy as he thought doing this would be. He could just say everything to Naruto slowly and surely, so as not to shock him but he doesn't know what's up with his self that pulls him back from saying it.

Meanwhile, Naruto seemingly thinks that maybe he had done something wrong or it could be that Naruto forgot to do something Sasuke had asked him, or maybe Sasuke needs something out of Naruto...something like-

"Shit," Naruto suddenly exclaimed, making Sasuke snapped from his thoughts.

"What?" Sasuke asked shocked.

"Wait," Naruto searches through his back pack but seemingly failed from finding what he was looking for, "I forgot it."

"Forgot what?" Sasuke asks obviously confused, not really knowing what his friend is talking about.

"Forgot your-" Naruto stopped midway, "uhm...close your eyes Sasuke."

'Shit, I forgot Sasuke's bithday present in my apartment! How could've I forgot about that? okaaay, so I'll just have to give him something for the meantime, after all it's still next month. uhm, uhm...what should it be? uhm, how 'bout this necklace Tsunade-baba gave me? Uh, yeah! This'll be my temporary gift.'

Sasuke frowned in suspiscion and Naruto looked at him convincingly to close his eyes, and so did the Uchiha later.

"Okay, don't peak," Naruto warned, "I'll tell you if it's okay to open your eyes- and be quiet."

Sasuke waited and waited...and waited, 'till his patience worn thin.

"If you're toying with me dobe, you should stop it coz I'll be-"

Sasuke stopped midway and slowly opened his eyes without any consent from the blonde. Naruto had kissed Sasuke's halfly-parted lips and slowly pulled back after feeling Sasuke press his lips back in response.

"I told you not to open your eyes without my permission," Naruto blamed the Uchiha timidly, 'heh, if I give you Aunt Tsunade's necklace she'll probably kill me.'

"That's an early gift...for your birthday next month," Naruto said before Sasuke could even ask.

Sasuke was still staring at him blankly.

"Okay, okay!" Naruto raised his hands in a form of surrendering, "I forgot my birthday gift for 'ya at home and I was planning on giving you my gift one month before your real birthday happens, coz all the girls would definitely give you tons of presents ...and I at least, want to give it to you before they do."

"Oh," Sasuke answered blankly.

"Ohh!" Sasuke's eyes shimmered from registering the bulk of words Naruto said in his confused state mind.

"So you mean, you want to come first?" Sasuke asked, more likely teased.

"Well, it's not like you care about their presents -and that's pretty mean of you, and it's not like you're going to open any of them either -which is very insensitive of you once again, and it's not like you're going to do that from any of my presents for you -which is very touching, but still mean for the others." Naruto finally stopped, catching his breath.

"But...?" Sasuke insisted as he waits for something from the blonde to say.

"But what?" Naruto's eyebrows met, not really getting what Sasuke wants him to say.

"But you gave me a kiss instead," Sasuke didn't bother to beat around the bush anymore, "and you said my present was at your apartment, so what was the kiss for?"

"Geh, I thought you were smart," Naruto raised an eyebrow, "it was a temporary gift for today, coz you look like you were mad a while ago coz I forgot about your present...afterall, I always give you my gifts one month before the actual occasion, remember?"

'You mean you just don't want to forget it next time like you did my last birthday,' Sasuke thought to himself and nodded but had actually made a realization that Naruto does did gives him his gifts one month earlier before his actual birthday...well, only the ones that Naruto remembers (which would likely be 2 out of 5).

There was a long silence that followed after but Naruto was the first to break it.

"Sooo," Naruto stared down to the ground, both watching his and Sasuke's shoes, "what do you wanted to talk about a while ago?"

"Uhm," Sasuke started to doubt his actions, "uh...let's go home together."

"Uhh," Naruto was confused but nodded, somehow feeling like Sasuke's weird today.

'Tch,' Sasuke remarked to himself, 'that was a stupid move'

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Naruto leisurely stretched out his arms as they were nearing his apartment. The sun had already started to glow off a dusky yellow and some of the neighboring stalls were also starting to close now. The merry outlook of the youngsters was felt from every inch of the neoghborhood now, since classes had already been dismissed for the day.

Naruto steps from outside their door and turns around to Sasuke, while grinning big like he was still a little kid. Sasuke only looked away and glared at nothing but deep inside he was smiling too.

"Thanks for the walk Sasuke," Naruto said, "I'll see you tommorow."

Sasuke just looked at him as if waiting for the blonde to say something else and that didn't bypass the Uzumaki's eyes.

"What?" he asked blatantly to the ebony haired boy, "Do you wanna say something?"

"It's..." Sasuke started, "what if I started not walking you home anymore and not be able to see each other again, what would you do?"

"Nani?" Naruto frowned, feeling weirder and started scratching his head, "I think it would feel very sad and very lonely. And I think I'll never forgive Sasuke if he suddenly leaves me, but if Sasuke has a very good reason then I'll forgive him -after all we're friends, right?"

Sasuke fell silent and felt a pang of guilt ran through him, now it makes it even harder for him to confess about his transferring.

"Sasuke," Naruto asked, "is there something bothering you? you know you can tell me, I might be able to help you."

Sasuke shook his head, rejecting the offer, "You know, you should just give me my present on my real birthday; I promise yours would come first."

"Eh-" Naruto sweat dropped," I thought it was such a big problem, you teme."

The Uchiha only smirked and turned around to leave, waving his hand goodbye to Naruto.

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"You haven't told him yet, haven't you?" Itachi's cold voice greeted the brooding Sasuke in his room.

"I haven't -I couldn't," Sasuke corrected, he was still feeling the guilt, "he's not gonna forgive me if I tell him."

"He'll never forgive you if you'll never tell him," Itachi opposed.

Sasuke only laid down his face to his palm, shaking his head in disagreement.

"Oh, you don't wanna believe me, do you little brother?" Itachi continued, "Just wait 'till he finds out for himself and believe me, my words will do its magic."

"I'm not gonna let that happen," Sasuke quickly contradicted, "I'll be the first to tell him before he finds out from somebody else."

"We'll see," Itachi's tone tells off a warning.

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It had been weeks from now and Sasuke's birthday was coming near. It had seem like the avid fangirls were getting busy for the upcoming Uchiha's birthday like girls engaging on a hectic preparation for the right gown to wear on their upcoming junior/senior prom. They all seem very quiet and unaware of the event so as to let their so-called 'surprise' not to be ruined. But it was no surprise for Sasuke and the people around about the annual 'surprises' on the Uchiha's birthday anymore.

Naruto was happily walking down to his classroom stopping by to his locker, when he heard a couple of girls from inches away giggling and chatting about stuffs. It wasn't his intention to eavesdrop but he couldn't help but overhear their conversation.

"Hey, you have anything yet for Sasuke-san's birthday?"

"I don't know. I'm still thinking about it."

"Well, take your time and make it the most beautiful gift you should give him coz I heard he's transferring to another school next year!"

Naruto frozed from his spot. It might be rumors but it could still be true, he didn't want to believe it. Sure, Sasuke won't hide anything to him especially on matters like transferring schools...they were friends so Sasuke can't possibly not tell him. Or so, that's what he thinks...or was it?

"Nani!" the girl gasped, "that's not possible, that's a lie!"

"Well, start believing, I heard it from the teacher's faculty yesterday...Uchiha's really leaving you know."

"How'd that happen? He's a genius, so why would he transfer to another school?"

"I don't know, I didn't hear anything about why he was leaving."

"That can't be true! tsk, I wasn't even able to talk to Sasuke-san properly and now he's leaving."

"He still has some months left, so you still have a chance. Be aggresive, Misaki!"

Naruto didn't even want to hear another word, he was appalled. He walked away from the scene as fast as he could. That girl couldn't have told a lie since she heard it from the teacher's themselves, but should've that mean Sasuke was to tell him about it months ago? Then why didn't he?

His foots led him to the rooftop and it was perfect since the blonde doesn't know what to do; it was still early in the morning so it wasn't a problem -he wouldn't be late.

The breeze was fine; it blew some blonde locks away from Naruto's face as he sat down on the cold floor thinking. He held his arms around his legs and rested his head atop his knees, what the hell was happening? Why would Sasuke leave without telling him? He's confused, though he doesn't want to jump to conclusions yet -well not before Sasuke tells the truth about the matter at hand.

The sky was all out blue and the weather was all fine -that was until the two girls from before started their little conversation.

'He'd better start explaining later,' Naruto scoffed from his sitting position and made his way back to his classroom.

To be Continued...

A.N.: Uhm, I know I haven't updated like ages! but...ahh, I don't know what excuse to say. Well, uhm you can kill me later after leaving off a review...please! don't hate me, neh? Recently, I've been one of the chosen peepz whose going for the 'English Speaking Impromptu' competition and if you win you'll definitely get P50,000! wish me luck guys, it's next week already! and uhm, I passed in my report card, yay! Annd, I got addicted watching Lee Jun Ki's movie 'the king and the clown' and reading Okane Na Gai manga and many many more manga and of course including Naruto.

Well, I miss writing Gaara but unfortunately he's not here...sigh. I heart Gaara but I couldn't put myself ruining the plot if he'll appear as much as I liked...so justice be prevailed! (eh? I'm getting weirder) but...! don't worry coz me and my best friend talked about Gaara's future and benefits in I.O. and he's got really sweeet moments with Naru-chan soon...!

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Naruto: "Ack! you changed pen name! what's with solstice turning to taboo-chan?"

taboo: "Uhh...my last pen name's kinda weird so...hehehe"

Sasuke: "Why don't I have any sex scenes with Naruto yet?"

Naruto: -wacks Sasuke's head- "pervert!" -blush-

Itachi: "So I finally appeared, am I a special guest here? Seems like I don't appear much at all"

taboo: -sweats- "ahahahahahaha, you have a major role here...just not yet time to expose you too early, kay?"

Naruto: "Suddenly making excuses...cheh!"

taboo: -slaps Naruto's back harshly- "ahahahahaha, you didn't mean that right, Naruto-kun?"

-author turns murderous look, Characters sweat drops-

taboo: -mood swings- "Ah! I forgot!" -takes Gaara out of no where- "my icon!"

Gaara: "And you dare pull me out from no where, you didn't.WRITE. Anything. About. Me..."

taboo: "wahahahahaha, there's no need to be sulky!"

Gaara: "I am NOT sulky"

taboo: "ahehehe, don't worry...I'll treat you something special some chapters later!"

Sasuke: "What SPECIAL?"

taboo: "Anou, I think it's already time for a break! please read and review!"

-Camera man shuts the camera. Muffled commotions heard-

taboo: -suddenly popping out of the darkness- "Ah...before I forgot I-"

-gets dragged by Naruto inside the darkness-

taboo: "waaaaAAAAH! don't pull my shirt!"

Naruto: "Enough talking, you've got some explaining to do!"