Chapter 7

The following day Naruto was all smiles. He shrugged off his backpack, turning around when he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. A young girl in a matching uniform faced him with a smile. She was petite with a cute face and long hair. Naruto was sure he had seen her before.

"What's up?" He shoved his backpack inside his locker.

"Hi, my name's Hinata," she said softly. "I just wanted to give you this."

Naruto saw she was shy, obvious by the way she avoided his eyes. He looked down at the brown paper bag pushed towards him. He took it and looked inside. It was a bag full of fried dumplings.

"I'm sorry about what my brother did to you," Hinata said softly. "You see our family own a dumpling shop so I thought I'd bring you some." She smiled at him. "I mean, I know it doesn't make up for what he did to you, but you know, I thought you might like it."

"Who's your brother?" Naruto asked.

Hesitating, she replied quietly. "Neji."

Naruto scoffed. He glanced around, chuckled. "How did a cute girl like you end up related to a guy like him?" He expected her to defend her brother and he's caught off guard when she instead laughed. It was a nervous laugh.

"You see our shop isn't doing that good," she explained. "We might have to shut it down. The shop is our only source of income so it's been tough for all of us, especially Neji."

Naruto looked at her plainly. "So, because no one wants to eat his family's dumplings, he reacts by lashing out on me?" He leaned against his locker. "Forgive me for not breaking down in tears."

"I understand. Anyway, I hope you like the dumplings. Come by if you want some more. We could really use the help."

Naruto watched her as she hurried down the hall. He wondered if he came off harsh, he's almost apologetic. He looked at the bag and noticed a small paper stapled to the side. It was the name and address of the restaurant. He chuckled. She wasn't kidding, they really were desperate.

Naruto glanced down at his watch. Great, he was late to his gym class. He can't remember how many times he's been reprimanded by the coach for his constant tardiness and his lack of participation in class. He slammed his locker shut.

The walk to the locker room was infuriatingly far. It's located on the opposite side of the school building near the school's open field. He took his sweet time heading over to the locker room. He's not shocked to find it completely empty. He's thankful there's no testosterone filled boys to harass him.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Fuck.

Naruto turned around to find Kiba walking towards him, a deep frown on his handsome face. He was still in his uniform and Naruto was glad to know he wasn't the only one late. Even so, he knew Kiba wouldn't share the same consequences as him. He was the coach's pride and joy.

"I'm talking to you," Kiba said firmly. "Where have you been?"

"Umm, here and there." Naruto typed in the code on his locker and swung it open. "I was gonna call you back but I fell asleep."

"I got great news," Kiba said, excitement in his eyes as he grabbed Naruto and spun him around. "Guess what happened."

"What?" Naruto groaned when he's pressed against the lockers behind him. He wrapped his arms around Kiba, felt his strong body press against him. "What's got you so excited?"

"My dad called me this morning. He said he'll be able to make it to the final game of the season." He allowed Naruto to move a fallen curl out of his eyes. "I don't even know what to say. I mean, I'm fucking stoked."

"What makes this time any different from the other times?" Naruto paused for a moment, careful of his words. "He said the same thing last season. Got your hopes up and everything just to bail."

"I know!" Kiba turned to the side, felt himself getting riled up and took a moment to calm himself. "This time, it'll be different. Why can't you just be happy for me?"

Naruto kissed him softly on the lips. "I am happy for you."

Naruto suddenly remembered he should be angry with Kiba. He also knew the situation between Kiba and his father. He knew about their odd relationship. How much Kiba adored and respected the guy. The lengths Kiba would go to please him, to make him proud. Kiba was the star of the school's soccer team. He's led the school to many championships. Yet, the one person Kiba wanted there cheering him on never once showed up, too busy with his work to see his son's greatness. Naruto completely understood what this moment meant for Kiba, and he was willing to disregard everything else to allow Kiba his moment of happiness.

"You're coming too, right?" Kiba pressed his head into the crook of Naruto's neck, his sharp canine softly nipping at the soft skin underneath.

Naruto gently pushed him away. "I'm always there, aren't I?"

"Cause' you know what'll happen if you're not." Kiba went in for a kiss, laughing when Naruto pushed his palm in his face. "Come on, I was kidding," he grumbled.

"Admit it, I'm your good luck charm."

"Yeah right, who lied to you?" His hands began pulling at the hem of Naruto's shirt, a sudden yearning look in his eyes. "There's no one here," he whispered, a desperateness in his voice.

"Thought you said doing it at school was off limits." Naruto closed his eyes when he felt Kiba's cold hands trail against his warm skin. "What if we get caught?"

"I don't fucking care." Kiba moved his lips against Naruto in a heated kiss, his fingers unbuttoning Naruto's shirt.

"Mm, this is a bad idea." Naruto moaned, lifting his leg to wrap around Kiba as he pressed deeper into him. He opened his eyes, focused them on a spot above Kiba's neck. He frowned as he gripped Kiba's jaw, roughly turned it to the side. "What's this?"

Kiba felt Naruto's finger prod the space beneath his jaw. "This counts as foreplay?"

"What's this?" Naruto traced his finger on the patch of red skin. He looked Kiba straight in the eyes. "Answer me."

"You know what it is. You've given me plenty of them yourself."

"I didn't give you this one." Naruto pulled his hands away. "Who was it?"

"Why does it matter?'

"Answer the question."

Kiba sighed tiredly, removing his hands from Naruto's waist. He ran his hand stressfully through his thick curls. "Can we just go a day without you making something out of nothing?"

Naruto turned around and shrugged off his blazer. "Do whatever you want."

"Are you seriously mad over this? You're really going to get emotional over a fucking hickey? This isn't the first time so what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that I keep wasting my fucking time with you." Naruto clenched his jaw when Kiba grabbed him by the arms and pushed him against the lockers, Kiba's strong arms beside his head keeping him trapped.

"No one is forcing you to be with me. You can leave whenever you want." Kiba turned Naruto's head back around to face him when Naruto looked away. "By the way, where the hell were you last night? You didn't respond to any of my texts. Where were you?"

"None of your business."

"Can we be adults, please?" Kiba sighed and asked again. "Where were you?"

"I was with a friend."

Kiba dropped his arms, a mocking look on his face. "You don't have any friends."

"You might know this one. His name is Sasuke Uchiha."

Kiba chuckled. "What?"

"With my lifestyle, is it so hard for you to believe that I could be friends with a guy like him?"

No, it wouldn't, Kiba thought. He suddenly remebered the scene from the classroom. How agitated Naruto had been when he heard Sasuke was back in Japan. Was he the childhood friend Naruto rambled on about when he was drunk out of his mind?

Naruto saw the analyzing look in Kiba's eyes and smiled.

"What did you guys do?" Kiba asked stiffly.

"We went out for a few drinks. We ended up so wasted I can't even remember half the shit we did afterwards." Naruto saw the mix of jealousy and anger cross Kiba's eyes. "Who knows maybe we did more than just drink. Who knows, maybe we fucked."

Kiba raised his fist and Naruto flinched back against the lockers.

"No!" a voice yelled.

Naruto slowly peeled his eyes open to find Kiba moving away from him. He took the chance to calm his nerves. To think he actually believed they were beginning to make progress.

Kiba returned with his fist tightly holding the collar of a student. When he's near Naruto, he shoved the student forward and Naruto recognized the familiar face. The chubby student from the other day. The teen smiled nervously when Naruto looked at him. Suddenly, his eyes grew wide when the front of his shirt was gripped tightly with Kiba's fist practically digging in his throat.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kiba sneered. "What did you see?"

Naruto sighed. "Let him go, Kiba."

"I swear fatso, if you tell anyone what you saw, I'll-"

"Fucking let him go, Kiba." Naruto reached out, grabbed Kiba's arm. "Just calm down. Threatening him isn't going to solve anything."

"Naruto, I swear, if he tells anyone…"

"He won't."

"And how the hell do you know that?"

"I'll make sure he doesn't."

Naruto sighed when Kiba shoved the student aside. "What's your name?" He sounded drained and just over the whole situation.

"Choji," a timid voice replied.

"Why aren't you in class, Choji?"

Choji averted his eyes to the bigger threat behind Naruto. He quickly lowered his eyes defensively when Kiba practically snarled at him. "I wanted to properly thank you for helping me the other day but, I was too shy to say anything in class. I was getting water when I saw you come in here so I thought I'll just…"

"Come in and say hi," Naruto said, and when Choji nodded, he looked over at Kiba. "Is there anything else you wanted to say?" He turned his eyes back on Choji.

Choji nodded. "Just thank you and that I appreciated what you did," he said softly.

Naruto laid his palm gently over Choji's shoulder. "Listen Choji, I need you to do me a favor. You can't say anything to anyone about what you might have seen or heard."

"I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything," Choji said quickly. "You can trust me."

Choji looked from the corner of his eye to Kiba who had prompted himself on the bench behind Naruto. He watched Kiba hoist a foot on the bench, his head leaning over his knee. He felt his palms become sweaty when Kiba stared at him like a guard dog lying in wait, ready to pounce at any given second. Choji quickly returned his gaze to Naruto, startled when what felt like a paper was shoved at his chest.

"Here, I'm not really a fan of dumplings."

Choji hesitantly accepted the bag."I need to get back to class. I don't want to get in trouble."

Naruto stepped aside for the student to move past him. He then grabbed a hold of Choji's shoulder. "If I hear that you told anyone about what you might have saw here today, I won't stop Kiba next time." His threat was serious but his tone was kind. "Don't try to get revenge against him by hurting me. After all, I'll like to think we're friends."

Choji felt a rush of bravery surge through him. "I won't say anything. You seem to have enough to deal with as it is."

A deadly silence loomed over them, broken by Naruto's laugh.

"Make one more sly remark about me and you'll be picking your teeth off the floor."

Naruto saw the nervous look on Choji's face. Deep down, he felt bad that Choji had wound up in this situation. After all, he knew first hand how far Kiba would go to protect his image.

"You better get going now, Choji." Naruto walked him past Kiba just in case. When he returned, Kiba watched him coldly. Naruto unconsciously took a step back when Kiba stood up. "Don't hurt him, Kiba." Don't hurt me was what he wanted to say.

Kiba swung his backpack over his shoulder. "Long as he keeps his mouth shut."

"My brother took my phone last night. That's why I didn't return your texts." He took a deep breath. "I didn't fuck anyone. I just said that to get back at you." He spoke so fast it was as if he was pleading his case in court.

"Hey listen… just now, I wasn't, I mean, you know, I wasn't going to hit you, right?"

Naruto couldn't help but notice how unapologetic and flat Kiba's tone was. Like he had said it so many times, it didn't even carry the same emotions anymore.

"What does it matter, you've hit me countless times before." He knew he was adding fuel to the fire but he didn't care.

"Why do you always have to act like that? Why do you always try to pick a fight with me? I'm trying to fucking apologize and you're throwing it right back in my face." He sounded hurt, as if he truly was apologetic. Maybe, he was.

"You would have hit me if he hadn't had stopped you."

"You don't know that."

"You're lying."

"You don't fucking know that!"

"Just go," Naruto said softly. "I need to get changed and you're distracting me."

"I'll text you later."

"Whatever."

Naruto closed his eyes when Kiba kissed the top of his head. He recalled Sasuke's words from yesterday. He didn't remember much of their conversation but he did remember Sasuke questioning him on his relationship with Kiba. If you could even call it a relationship what he and Kiba had. It was weird, unhealthy. He wasn't trapped. He could leave anytime he wanted and Kiba wouldn't give one single fuck. He had abundantly made that clear.

Sasuke always did tell him he had too big of a heart and too little of a brain. Naruto had a habit of caring too much about people who did not, or rather would not reciprocate the same affection towards him. He was beginning to wonder if that was enough of an excuse to still be with Kiba.

—

That evening Kyuubi stood in the kitchen preparing dinner. His friend of two years, Yugito Nii, kept him company. She was tall and fit, a fair complexion with blond hair. Like Kyuubi, she too had a son, an adorable five year old with a striking resemblance to his mother.

Yugito sat by the small circular dining table near the kitchen. She leaned back in the imported leather chair. Kyuubi had an eye for extravagance especially when it came to home décor.

She knew a lot about Kyuubi, more than his own brother knew. Kyuubi has come a long way from the night they first met. Back then, she thought Kyuubi was a lost soul. The night she had arrested him, she remembered the hatred in his eyes. It was frightening. That same night she paid his bail, took him to her house. Since then, she's become a guardian towards Kyuubi, a good friend.

While the adults continued on about their day, the kids sat in the living room entertained by their iPads. Jaron showed pictures of the handsome man he had met at the supermarket to Kota. Naruto had searched and saved pictures of Itachi on his iPad, Jay insisting on seeing the man over and over again. Naruto supposed his nephew's interest in Itachi was due to an innocent crush the boy had developed.

"Here!" Kota shoved his finger down on the iPad screen showing a close up of Itachi. "He looks a lot like you, Jay," he said with sparkling eyes.

Jay stopped from sliding the screen to the next picture. "He doesn't look like me," he argued.

Kota giggled. "Yeah, he does."

"No, he doesn't. I look like my mommy."

Kota looked up at him incredulously. "But, your mommy has red hair and you don't."

"Shut up, stupid." Jay mumbled.

Kota placed his hands on his hips assertively. "Hey, don't call me stupid."

"Sorry." Jay mumbled before returning his attention to his iPad screen.

"Is that my little angel, Kota?" Naruto cheered seeing his little clone on the couch. He ran over and lifted the boy into his arms, twirling him around. "How's my second favorite blonde?"

"Dizzy!" Kota giggled. "Who's your first favorite blonde?"

"Why, me of course." Naruto pressed a big kiss to the boy's soft cheek. He peeked over to his nephew, shaking his head when he saw the picture of Itachi. Honestly, he blamed himself for this newfound obsession.

Naruto settled Kota down on the couch. He leaned over to kiss Jay but instead pulled back when the boy turned away. "Oh I see. Kota's here so you don't want to be babied." Naruto shook his head. He inched slowly to the unsuspecting boy and snuck a quick peck to Jay's cheek.

"Naru…"

"You are never going to be too old for my kisses."

Kota pointed a finger at Jaron as he giggled. "Jay, you're red like your mommy's hair."

Jay slouched into the cushions. "Shut up." That only made Kota laugh more.

Naruto glared at his brother as he entered the kitchen. "What's up, Yugi?" He twisted the cap off the bottled water he snatched from the fridge.

"How you doing, Naruto?" She had a strong, commanding voice.

"Oh, you know, still figuring out how this life shit works." He downed some more of the ice cold water, then turned to his brother. "What's up, big bro?"

"What?" Since when did Naruto acknowledge his existence. Oh wait, to keep up with appearances. "I'm doing just fine, Naruto. Thanks for asking."

Naruto patted him on the shoulder. "Glad to hear it."

Kyuubi continued to dice the tomatoes over the cutting board. "Over doing it a bit, don't you think?"

"Blow me." Naruto proceeded to throw the empty bottle of water away. He smiled innocently at Yugito as he left the kitchen.

"Oh Naruto," Kyuubi called after him. "Sasuke called. He said he'll be arriving soon."

"When did he call?"

Kyuubi looked up at him momentarily. "Maybe 10 minutes ago."

"Thanks."

Kyuubi kept his eyes on his brother until he disappeared to his room. He raised his brows as he turned to Yugito.

"Still as close as ever as I see." Her red lips tugged into a sympathetic smile.

Kyuubi sighed. "He hates me."

"How's his situation at school?" Yugito asked with a knowing stare.

"Bad as ever. When I try to get involved he pushes me away." He scraped the tomatoes into the sizzling sauce over the stove.

"Well, that's the normal attitude for most teenagers his age."

"Seems that way."

"He seems more lively today. What's changed?" Yugito smiled contently seeing the two boys getting along wonderfully on the couch.

"Sasuke's here. Suddenly, all is well in the world."

Yugito raised up her wine glass. "Young love is a beautiful thing, isn't it?" They laughed amongst themselves.

—

Sasuke was true to his word and within a few minutes he had arrived. He was respectful in greeting Yugito, annoyed for a moment by the woman's pestering questions but then thankful when Kyuubi restrained her. Naruto finally emerged and the two hurried out.

Naruto was dressed warmly in a hoodie and a pair of distressed jeans. Sasuke in the driver's seat wore a blue silk button up with black jeans.

"Where do you want to eat?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked over at him. What was with this man and always leaving his upper body exposed? Naruto won't complain much though. His eyes shamelessly trail down to Sasuke's abs.

"No, please. Take your time."

"Hm, let's see. How about some dumplings?"

Sasuke had to take a moment to process what he's told. "You hate dumplings."

"When I was a kid." Naruto shrugged. "A lot has changed since then."

"Well, I'm still not a fan. Pick something else."

Naruto grinned. "Dumplings."

Sasuke couldn't help but to laugh. "Was I always this patient with you?"

"Yes."

"I'm starting to regret it a little."

"Too late." Naruto chuckled. "You'll do anything for me."

Sasuke nodded his head. "Yes, I will."

Naruto smiled. "And I'll do the same for you."

—

Who is your favorite character so far?