Chapter 13: Slipping Control
The slim, lanky, ponytailed man sighed and neatly folded his clothes, laying them trimly on a nearby table. Iruka pulled off his shirt and stretched, a smile flickering across his face as his back executed a stunning display of cracks and pops. His spine, being nice for once, cricked easily back into place, and Iruka exhaled a breath of relief. A knock at his door sent him walking across the room, wondering why in all the seven point five hells was it that someone wanted him in the wee hours of the morn.
No sooner had his fingers turned the doorknob than the door was ripped clear off its hinges and sent flying in splinters to the other room, an innocent victim of the blonde disaster that practically emblazoned Iruka's silhouette into the wooden floor beneath him.
"EE-ROO-KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA….."
Naruto plowed across the floor and buried his face into the startled man's stomach, latching on like a limpet to his waist. Iruka stumbled backwards, tripped over the coffee table, and landed with a rather loud thump on the sofa with a loud "oof". He looked down and smiled wryly as the blonde nest of spikes dug persistently into his stomach as Naruto sobbed his heart out on his shirt. Already the brunette could feel the warm tears soak through the fabric. Iruka lifted a hand and ran it gently through Naruto's heaven-gilded locks, soothing him with whispered reassurances.
"Now now, Naruto, is something the matter?" A hiccough was heard from somewhere around his navel, and the yellow-white crow's nest bobbed up and down before doggedly pressing into his stomach again. Iruka gulped, then tried again, his tone a tad cautious.
"Does it have something to do with….Neji?"
He caught a brief flash of a tear-streaked bewhiskered face as Naruto howled out his grievances to the sky, and the next moment he knew, he'd been flung flat on the couch as the blonde migrated to his shoulder, soaking another portion of his clothing. Iruka sighed. At the rate he was going, he wouldn't have to shower for three full days.
"Okay…so, is that a 'yes, it does have something to do with Neji'?" He carefully picked out.
Naruto positively ripped out his vocal cords with an ear-shattering "YES!" before bawling louder than ever into Iruka's other shoulder. Iruka gently disengaged himself of the blonde's iron-clad embrace, smiling sadly into Naruto's tear-stained face. Using what was left of his drenched shirt, he carefully wiped the tears leaking down the blonde's face.
"There now, Naruto, it can't be all that—"
"DON'T YOU SAY IT!" Naruto squawked, eyes puffed up and livid. Iruka took a deep, calming breath as the blonde dissolved into a fresh torrent of tears.
"Uhm…Naruto…would it hassle you to tell me what happened?" He said softly. Naruto hiccupped, sniffled, and messily wiped his face on his arm before giving Iruka a lip-shaking dewy-eyed look of despondency.
"Please, Naruto?" Iruka prodded. "Maybe I could help." Naruto took a deep, shuddering breath, almost as if he were sucking in all the air that filled with world.
"IfoundNejiontheflooryesterdayandtodayhe'sinthehospitalandandandhedoesn'tremembermynameandthat'sverybadbecausebecausebecausethatmeanshe'sforgettingmeandI'mhisbestfrieeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnDDDDDDDDD!" He wailed, then proceeded to soak the wearied Iruka's couch.
"Naruto…are you in love with Neji?"
Naruto sat up and nearly swallowed his tongue as he fixed wide, aghast eyes onto Iruka's own almond ones. Iruka's lips twitched at the sight of the blonde's flabbergasted expression, forever magnified by his wide, shimmering eyes.
"How the…what the…no I'm n—….b-but….I….I-I…I am?" How completely and utterly satirical that he was now stuttering and shaking over a candid statement of the obvious (coming from Iruka too, the man whose staidness was unrivaled in all of Japan). And to make matters worse, the stupid sensei had a devious smirk engraved all over his young, sculpted features.
"Am I really that obvious?" Naruto asked weakly. Iruka calmly inspected his fingernails.
"Is that a confession?" He quipped nonchalantly, earning the promised yelp from the blonde before him. Naruto flailed his arms wildly.
"Bu-bu-but….w-wait…how….who….wha?" He choked out. Iruka's grin was practically reeking of wickedness.
"Well, you are bawling like a heartbroken beauty over someone recently lost." He said mildly.
"Th-that's just NORMAL BEHAVIOR!" Naruto shrieked in a voice five octaves too high. Iruka delicately inserted a slim finger into his ear and twisted.
"Well then, I suppose it was a lucky guess."
"Iiiirrrruuuuuuukkkkkkkaaaaaa…" Naruto looked ready to commit bloody fratricide.
"Fine, fine…I know because I've seen you with him numerous times, and the look in your eyes when you're beside him…" Iruka trailed off wistfully, then sighed.
"Well…it's like you're a whole different person. You're yourself around him, you know, even more so than when you are with me." He whispered faintly. After a long, pregnant pause, Naruto dared to venture.
"So then….you're not…disgusted at me for being gay?" He asked timidly. To his surprise, Iruka actually laughed.
"I don't give a damn. After all, since you have that thing locked up inside of you, one wouldn't expect anything else to be normal about you either." He said fondly, playfully rumpling Naruto's tresses. "I mean that in a good way," he added quickly as the blonde shot him a glower.
"Thanks, Iruka…." Naruto said warmly, then reached over and wrapped his arms around the ponytailed man. Iruka rested his chin atop the nest of thread-spun bronze, then leaned down to brush his lips across Naruto's ear.
"And personally…" he whispered with a hint of devilry, "I think you should go for him. After all, given the way that the girl Tenten looks at him, I'd say you have fair competition." Naruto recoiled, looking scandalized.
"Iruka!"
"Just kidding, just kidding…" The teacher flapped a hand at the blonde, smiling mischievously. Naruto exhaled.
"Jeez, Iruka, I never knew you had it in you…" At this, the man cocked his head to the side, a smirk on his countenance.
"And after all the years you've known me too…so utterly unobservant some of us are…" He was met by a pillow to the head as Naruto pounced, and the two wrestled playfully on the couch, former worries momentarily forgotten.
The Next Day
A wind blew through the trees, threading through wheat-gilded hair with a mournful cry as it rustled onwards towards the trees. What had occurred not so very long ago now repeated itself, and the dawn found a lone figure poised serenely atop one of the tallest branches of a nearby fir. Naruto lowered his sun-gilded lashes to half-mast as a slow wisp of air slipped out from between his parted lips. Knowing what had to be done, the blonde closed his eyes, letting just a ghost of a smile tenderly kiss his mouth.
In one fluid motion, he edged closer to the branch and silently slipped off the edge.
Plummeting downward, Naruto tilted up his head, and for a split second, reveled in the feel of the silken air streamlining down his body. He shot down like a needle, stiff as a railspike to meet the beckoning ground beneath him…and at the very last moment, he summoned all the latent power that slept inside of him and expelled a powerful blast of veiled crimson that resounded soundlessly across the whole of the earth. From all over the land, the calling summoned and pulled, pleading, cajoling for help until the sleeping figures awoke and started to come, to gather, to assemble in one enormous congregation. Naruto smiled wanly, then silently melted into the air in a flicker of scarlet.
Somewhere
He touched a hand to his head, puzzled beyond all means of comprehension. Just now…he felt something scour the earth. It wasn't anything remotely evident…in fact, it was quite infinitesimal really, and he highly suspected he only noticed it because the air gave off the barest shift of ambiance about three-odd seconds past. Tenten certainly hadn't noticed it; she kept humming her strange tuneless song, completely oblivious to what had passed. Neji's alabaster hand drew downwards just enough to let the long, slender fingers touch his lips in deep thought. That ripple…something about it…no, something about its origin…why did it suddenly seem so familiar?
"Neji?" Tenten's soft voice gently pulled the Hyuuga from his thoughts.
"Yes?" He responded absently, twirling a rogue piece of hair between his fingers. With a wry smile, Tenten plucked the strand of black from his hand and began stroking it herself.
"Is anything wrong?" She prodded.
Neji shook his head, suddenly very interested in the hand that was now playing idly with his strand of hair. Tenten…it seemed like she wasn't doing anything wrong, playing innocently with his hair like that…in fact, he hadn't a clue what was wrong with him, but he suddenly felt severely violated knowing that a strand of his hair was currently in Tenten's grasp. A blinding surge of panic suddenly seared across his vision and he jerked viciously away from the brunette.
"Don't touch me!"
Tenten recoiled and drew back, eyes terse with sudden confusion. Neji slowly eased his breathing back to normal, though the thoughts in his head were anything but organized. Little scraps of memories began flashing through his brain, snippets of this, shreds of that, and really, they made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but when the bewildered Hyuuga put them all together, they created a vivid picture of a certain sapphire-eyed blonde…
With a great, painful effort, Neji wrenched his eyes closed and concentrated, feeling the first fragments of fear creep upon his brain. The image was fading rapidly now, and suddenly it was the most essential thing in the world that he remember just who that image had portrayed. The answer, he knew, was quite simple; it should have been a second nature to him, but for some strange, inexplicable reason, his brain wouldn't allow him the clemency of remembering…
The vision shattered and died, but in the split second before it did, Neji saw a single tear start to form at the enigma's eye.
"Neji!"
He felt the slap before he saw it, and the next moment, his head had been jerked to the side, his cheek was stinging with the most excruciating pain, and Tenten was bent over his prone figure with a troubled look gleaming in her chocolate eyes. She laid a cool hand across the bridge of his brow.
"Are you okay?"
He suddenly found it very hard to breathe. Something was going on in his body…something drastic, something dire, and something very, very wrong. He could almost feel every nerve skip and sputter, every organ malfunction and break down. The Hyuuga reeled backwards, collapsing hard against the wall, hands clutching hopelessly at his head in agony. He was dimly aware of Tenten's cry of horror before his vision fizzed, blurred, and went dark.
Review onegai! I didn't get that many last time...TT
