The Art of Fabrication

by Nine1991

Sasuke is an undercover nin working under the guise of Uzumaki Naruto's bodyguard. When treachery is your job, and lies are created upon lies. Is it possible then, to create a bond strong enough to withstand it all? SasuNaru

5. Not Liking What You Wish For

Author's Note: Nope, I'm not dead. I promised myself that I wouldn't catch up on anymore fanfic reading until I finished and posted this chapter. So hope you all enjoy!

Warning: YAOI (Rating will go up and content will be more explicit in later chapters), some swearing.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Naruto' or any of the characters from the anime/manga.

Bold and Italics flashbacks

The Art of Fabrication (cont.)

By: Nine1991

Chapter 5: Not Liking What You Wish For

The liquid rippled and swirled as he guided the spoon around and around, metal scraping ceramic every time the thin spoon handle hugged the rim of the cup, and he lifted it out of the steaming fluid, tapped once, twice, before placing it on the saucer. As two fingers hooked themselves into the handle and the cup was brought to his lips, he inhaled the warm, herbal scent of tea, and his eyes fell shut as he relished the bitter, slightly sweet taste of the liquid slipping past his lips and scalding his tongue. Tea was his wake up call. It was what got him functioning in the morning. Not that he wouldn't be able to carry out his duties efficiently without it, but nevertheless, over the years it had become more or less a habit.

He heard Naruto before he even saw him, recognized the slight shuffling and rustle of cloth that signaled the blond was getting changed, then the muffled thumps of footsteps that preceded the bang! that was the door swinging open on its hinge to crash into the adjacent wall. Naruto, Sasuke came to realize, did everything loudly – including getting up in the morning.

Obsidian eyes slipped open and he gave all pretenses of avidly studying the cup held between his fingers, but out of the corner of his eyes, he focused on the blond as the bleary-eyed shinobi stumbled into the kitchen, tanned hands clumsily securing the ties of his forehead protector in place. When Naruto was sure the knot was secure, he let out one last jaw-creaking yawn, rolled his neck from side to side (Sasuke barely stopped himself from wincing at the distinct cracking sounds), and took a deep breath, blue eyes blinking a couple of times before opening wide as if he had only just realized where he was. Which, Sasuke mused, was probably true. The first ten minutes of Naruto's morning was always conducted through autopilot, and the blond had spent the first few days after moving into the Hokage tower banging into furniture and walls. It had taken a full week before his subconscious was able to memorize where everything was, and he was able to maneuver his way through them efficiently with his eyes half closed in the morning. Not that he was any less quiet even when he wasn't crashing into things.

Naruto was silent as he walked over to the fridge door, yanked it open, and stood for a few seconds contemplating its contents, a hand brought up to rub the back of his neck lazily. Reaching in and pulling out a white carton of milk, Naruto made his way towards the kitchen counter, the refrigerator door swinging shut behind him with a gentle 'click'. Sasuke watched as the blond took out a glass from one of the cabinets, filled it to the brim with milk, before proceeding to drain it in loud, steady gulps. Naruto swiped the back of his hand across his milk-lined lips as he dropped the now empty glass into the sink, the object clattering loudly as it tumbled onto its side.

Picking up the much lighter carton of milk, Naruto cleared his throat noisily, and Sasuke figured it was more to ease himself into the awkward silence rather than any real need to free his airways. "I'll be going to Ichiraku's," Naruto stated simply as he placed the milk back in the refrigerator, "And probably to spar with someone afterwards." He paused, before opening his mouth as if to say something, then pausing again. His jaws snapped shut a split second later and he said nothing else as he returned to his room, only to walk back out a minute later, securing a weapons pouch around his waist.

It had become a routine they'd fallen into. After that fiasco of a spar two weeks ago, there was a distinct awkwardness that had developed between them, and conversation between him and the cheerful blond had been kept to a bare minimum. They rarely talk nowadays, the only few words uttered were usually in the form of Naruto politely informing him of his plans for the day, token courtesy from client to bodyguard. And for some reason, it didn't feel right. It wasn't like the blond to step back and accept someone protecting him. Sasuke had watched Naruto long enough to be able to draw from his observations that the loud ninja hated being protected, hated anything that gave the remotest sign that he was weak. So he had been surprised when, the day after their confrontation, Naruto had made his way to the ramen shop at a sedate pace, not once addressing the Uchiha or giving the slightest inclination that he perceived the other's presence as Sasuke followed not ten metres behind. And the evening following that when they had returned to their room in the Hokage tower, the blonde's attitude towards him had been courteous and distant, not to the point of being cold, but polite as he bid Sasuke goodnight. To say Sasuke was irked would be an understatement.

The sound of a zip being pulled interrupted the uncomfortable silence as Naruto adjusted his chunin vest, tugging at the hem in a pathetic attempt to flatten out the slight wrinkles in the thick fabric. He gave his weapons pouch one last tug to make sure it was on tight, before turning to Sasuke and giving him a small nod. "Well, see you later," Naruto said, and he strode out the front door, as if Sasuke wouldn't be following mere seconds after.

Sasuke watched the blond walk out before calmly getting up from his seat to place his empty cup of tea in the sink. He didn't bother to recheck his weapons and uniform as he had already made sure he was ready to go even before he sat down for tea. He calmly followed in the direction Naruto had just taken.

The blond was acting exactly the way he preferred a client to act – calm, distant and polite. Naruto was neither clingy, nor overtly friendly as he had been before. This, of course, made Sasuke's job a whole lot easier and preserved a lot of the personal space that he thrived on. By all means, Sasuke knew he should be happy, ecstatic, jumping over the moon with how lucky he was.

So imagine his surprise when he realized he hated it.

-LineBreak-

The moon shone its pearly white light down upon the quiet village as everyone slept, and no one noticed the shadowy figure flitting silently across the house rooftops. The figure moved swiftly, darting back and forth between ledges and roofs, always sticking to the shadows and staying clear away from the gleaming moonlight, before flipping gracefully off a roof to land, crouched, in the shadow of a quaint, little hut situated at the edges of Konoha's vicinity.

The village gates were shut, as they always were by nightfall. But the figure didn't seem perturbed as he waited patiently in the shadows, eyeing the great wooden doors that were barred shut, flanked by two Chunins at either side. If his sources were correct, then the night shift guard duty turnover would take place any minute. And sure enough, it was barely ten minutes before he sensed the presence of two other ninjas heading his way, not bothering to cloak their chakra in the slightest. It was careless of them, but it's not like he had any reason to complain.

The two new Chunins approached the pair at the gate, and they seemed to know each other for one of them raised a hand lazily in greeting, before stepping away from their post to meet the approaching pair halfway. They engaged in small talk, whispering in hushed voices as they formed a rough circle, one of the Chunins letting out a soft laugh at some joke one of them must have told. It had only taken that split second of ignorance for the figure in the shadows to break into a silent run, scaling the high wall swiftly as the chakra concentrated at the pads of his soles allowed grip on the smooth stone. Step, step, step, and in the blink of an eye, he was at the top, the moon highlighting his pale pallor as he flipped fluidly off the stone wall, landing lightly on the other side just in time to hear the group of Chunins breaking apart so that two of the four could resume their appropriate spots by the gates.

He straightened up, securing the strap of the pack he was carrying around his shoulders as he scanned the dark forest from side to side, before taking off at a brisk pace straight into the densely packed trees outside Konoha's border. It was only a short amount of time later before he reached the edge of a small clearing, the moonlight shining down on its center like a dull beacon.

Sasuke took one step forward, the eerie glow of the moon washing over him as he stepped past the shadow of the overhanging branches and into the open. He paused, his eyes scanning the surrounding forest before stopping at a tight, densely knot clump of trees directly in front of him at the opposite end of the clearing.

"Kabuto," he drawled, "Why don't you come out so we can get this over with? Unlike you, I have a job to get back to."

And it was barely after he had finished his sentence that a man stepped out from behind the trees, a pleasant smile on his face as he surveyed Sasuke from behind rounded spectacles. "Impatient as always, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto remarked, as he pushed the spectacles higher up the bridge of his nose, "One would think you've gotten attached to Konoha-"

"And I had hoped that you would know me by now," Sasuke cut in, his face as set as stone. "I have no attachments."

Kabuto smiled knowingly. "Of course not."

The Uchiha's face darkened for the shortest of moments before abruptly turning stoic once more. He slipped the pack he was carrying off his shoulder, throwing it to Kabuto who caught it midair. "This is what I've found so far. The seals of the records chamber take some time to unravel, so unlocking documents has been…tedious."

Kabuto loosened the mouth of the bag, slipping a hand inside to pull out an old-looking scroll. He unrolled it, holding the edges of the document gingerly between his fingers as he skimmed the neatly scribed information. It seemed the document was written by one of Konoha's council elders, dating back a little more than a decade.

"It mentions an ambush from Whirlpool Country," Sasuke said softly, "Where it states that Konoha used some kind of defense mechanism to obliterate the threat."

Kabuto nodded as he surveyed the scroll with a keen eye. "Which would explain the sudden death of Whirlpool Country's kage," he muttered, more to himself than anything. As Kabuto's eyes skimmed over the neat, handwritten words, a certain passage caught his eye.

[This has been our first application trial of the new defense mechanism. The weapon has worked surprisingly well, much more efficiently than had been expected. The enemy has been promptly eliminated. There are no survivors. The extermination was completed within 19 hours, when we had initially expected 24. Although the weapon has remained outwardly unblemished, I would like to suggest higher conditioning to strengthen the core, since it has shown signs of fragility. I would also li-

Sasuke remained silent as Kabuto read through the scroll, his expression bored and generally looking as if he would rather Kabuto not take his time. It was a few minutes of still silence before Kabuto's dark eyes refocused on Sasuke's face as he allowed the scroll to roll back into its initial structure, slipping it back into the pack he had retrieved it from. The bespectacled ninja smiled pleasantly as he hoisted the pack onto his shoulder. "So is this all, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn." He was never a man of many words.

Kabuto's smile turned sly. "Why, one would think you were losing your touch."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously as his face darkened. Losing his touch, was he?

"I hope Konoha hasn't been overworking you? I heard you'd taken up a job as a babysitter."

Golden hair and blue, blue eyes…

Kabuto blinked as he felt cold metal against his throat, the sharp edge of the blade nicking the skin so that he could feel his own blood well up against the minuscule cut. "Do not toy with me, Kabuto," Sasuke stated calmly against the other ninja's back as he tightened his grip on the kunai so that it pressed deeper into the tender skin of the man's throat, "For even your precious Orochimaru-sama will not be able to stop me from killing you if I want to."

Kabuto smirked. "Yes, but I doubt he would be very happy if you did. Kill one of his most loyal subordinates and he might just not hold up his end of the deal. Or have you given up on killing your brother?"

Kabuto chuckled as he felt Sasuke stiffen, and chose that moment to slip out of dark-haired nin's hold and to a safe distance. "You should really learn to control your temper Sasuke-kun. It will be your undoing one day," he remarked in an amused tone, loud enough for Sasuke to hear, as he secured the pack containing the scroll across his shoulder tightly. Kabuto gave one last seemingly friendly smile before disappearing into the darkness of the surrounding forest.

Sasuke remained where he was for all of ten seconds before calmly pocketing his kunai and making his way back to Konoha…

…back to sky blue eyes and sunshine hair.

-LineBreak-

The shrill whistling of the kettle sliced through the stuffy silence, and it was a bouncing Naruto that happily approached it, a container of instant ramen in his hand. The steam billowed from the spout as the dried noodles were steadily submerged in boiling water, and it wasn't until the square block of noodles started to float that Naruto placed the kettle back down on the stove and secured the lid back over the container. He carried it back to the dining table, taking slow, careful steps and generally acting like one would if they were carrying their firstborn.

Sasuke watched on in silent amusement as Naruto gently placed the ramen on the table, fingers light and careful so as not to spill the broth, before plonking himself down onto a chair. The blond leaned back in his seat, his hand on the tabletop, fingers rhythmically thumping on the hard wood as if three whole minutes couldn't possibly go by fast enough as his eyes never strayed from the container of ramen in front of him.

Sasuke studied Naruto out of the corner of his eye, his hands still carrying out their chore of cleaning his weapons. Three weeks ago, Naruto would have used these three minutes to bother him, and he could almost picture the blond collapsing unceremoniously beside him on the couch, possibly slipping an arm around his shoulders and chattering his head off about god knows what. Sasuke never really bothered to take in Naruto's one-sided conversations. And maybe the bright Chunin would offer to help him clean his weapons, ignoring him when he would say 'no', and he would have to end up saving the blond idiot from chopping off his own fingers anyway.

The sound of loud slurping jerked Sasuke from his thoughts, and he didn't have to look at Naruto to know that the three minutes were up and that the blond was wasting no time downing the bowl of noodles. Sasuke blinked a couple of times as his mind cleared and he was jerked back to reality. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' Sasuke thought to himself, as he ran a hand through his midnight hair. 'Damn it, Uchiha, get your act back together!'

Naruto, however, continued to slurp down his ramen, seemingly ignorant of the Uchiha in the far end of the room. As the blond drank up the rest of the remaining broth, draining the bowl so that there was not even a single droplet left (it was against his moral codes to let ramen go to waste after all), Naruto paused when he felt his senses perk. If he had been an animal, he was sure his ears would have twitched. A faint, barely distinguishable chakra was present in the vicinity, either so weak or hidden so well. Familiar…so very familiar…who…

Naruto's eyes lit up.

Sasuke's gaze snapped to focus just in time to see Naruto propel out of his chair, on his face a grin so wide that the whisker marks scrunched, distorted. The Uchiha stood up just as Naruto reached the door, tugged it open and rushed out, his running footsteps echoing along the corridor.

Three seconds later found the room empty, as the door swung on its hinges, a second chain of quick footsteps following the first.

-LineBreak-

When the chase had finally stopped, Sasuke found himself in front of the Hokage's office, looking on the scene before him with a carefully schooled expression. Upon their arrival, the great oak doors of the Hokage's office had opened to reveal three formidable-looking ninjas. From their appearance, he could tell they were foreigners, probably from Wind Country, if their odd clothes were anything to go by.

And it was at this point that Naruto had launched himself onto the shortest of the three – an intimidating redhead with black-rimmed eyes – simultaneously giving the two ninjas flanking him a heart attack, as well the other two Konoha Jounins that were on guard by the doors. They had moved to drag the blond away from the sand nin, but stopped when the redhead had flashed them a particularly harsh glare, slightly obstructed by the arms encasing his neck in a chokehold and the mop of spiky blond hair in his face.

Which then led to the situation they were in now. Sasuke continued to look on from the sidelines as Naruto chattered nonstop to the redhead, not understanding the weird surge of anger he felt every time the blond leaned a little too close or initiated too much contact. 'Couldn't the moron keep his hands to himself for five minutes?' Sasuke grumbled inwardly, barely restraining himself from glaring daggers at the redhead. 'Who the hell was that runt anyway?'

As the blond continued to gesticulate wildly, seemingly in the middle of a very exciting story, Sasuke gave an annoyed grunt that he thought went unnoticed, at least until the redhead's jade-green gaze fell on him. If he had been any lesser man, Sasuke was sure he would have cowered at the cold, emotionless gaze. And to think, people called him a cold bastard.

"Who are you?" the redhead questioned calmly, but Sasuke could tell it was more a command than anything.

Sasuke remained silent. Like hell he was going to answer to this spoiled brat!

Naruto grinned sheepishly as he gave the redhead's arm a brief tug. "Gaara, don't mind Sasuke, he's always like that." Sasuke froze as he heard the name. Gaara? Sabaku no Gaara? Shit.

Naruto continued chattering. "I should know, I mean, I live with the bastard after all. But back to what I was saying, that giant ramen looked so re-"

"Why is he living with you?"

Naruto frowned. "Er…haven't you heard? Baa-chan assigned me a…erm…" and a faint red tinged the blonde's cheeks as he continued in a lower tone, "…a bodyguard."

And even though the redhead's facial features not so much as twitched, Naruto must have sensed some aura of surprise for he went on, "Didn't you know? Wait…but isn't Sasuke a Suna-nin?" The blond looked even more confused. "Didn't you know you transferred someone to guard me?"

Inwardly, Sasuke was about to pull his hair out at the roots, hoping that for once Naruto would shut up. Even though his face was still schooled to be blank, his heart was beating a mile a minute, as he scraped his brain for some sort of plan that would smoothly get him out of this predicament. Goddamn it! He didn't expect the Kazekage to come to Konoha!

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "Why do you need a bodyguard?"

Naruto's mouth snapped shut and, for the first time since the blonde's arrival, there was silence.

"Because I assigned him one," A voice said calmly, as the large oak doors swung wide open to reveal the Hokage. Tsunade looked down her nose at the Kazekage, "I thought the brat would have dragged you off to Ichikaku's by now, Kazekage-sama."

The Kazekage switched his attention to the blonde, ample-breasted woman, ignoring Naruto's enraged squawk of "It's I-chi-ra-ku's!".

Jade-green eyes flashed and the Kazekage's voice was steel. "Why does he need a bodyguard? And why have I not been informed?"

"I hardly believe it is the Kazekage's job to concern himself with trivial matters such as handing out missions," Tsunade said haughtily, "I believe that is why you hired Baki-san, is it not? Do not worry, the Uchiha has done a fine job so far."

The Kazekage's eyes flashed angrily and the room spiked with barely suppressed chakra. There was an awkward, stuffy silence, and no one dared to be the first to break it. The two Suna-nins flanking the Kazekage – a spiky haired blonde girl and a black-suited man – tensed as if preparing to restrain the Kazekage if need be. Sasuke's jaw clenched as he readied himself to take the quickest route to drag Naruto away from the carnage if things went out of control.

And everyone remained frozen. That is, until –

Grrrrooowwwllll…

All eyes snapped to Naruto, who looked sheepish as he rubbed a hand over his belly. "Heh heh…er…" He ruffled the back of his head, making the blond spikes stick up even more haphazardly. The occupants of the room sweat-dropped. Was this kid for real?

Naruto snaked a hand around the Kazekage's arm, giving a gentle tug that caused the redhead to glance back at him. "Gaara, I'm hungry," Naruto muttered, his bottom lip jutting out in a pout. Cold, green eyes softened. Sasuke bristled.

The Kazekage turned back to Tsunade. "We shall talk about this later."

The Hokage nodded, before, with a swish of her robes, started walking along the corridor and down the stairs, Shizune in tow.

Gaara gave a nod to his two siblings, before following in the Hokage's direction, a bouncing Naruto by his side. The blond had picked off on his previous story, cheerful and excited at the prospect of finally getting lunch, and chattering away a mile a minute. The edges of the Kazekage's lips twitched. It felt good to be back.

Sasuke was following not so far behind, and just when they had exited the Hokage tower and he was about to take to the roofs where it was much easier to survey the blond, his feet stopped obeying him. Sasuke looked down, only to find both his feet encased in a mound of sand, thin tendrils traveling up and around his ankles threateningly. He couldn't move.

Sasuke looked up, only to come face to face with the Kazekage. "Your presence will not be required today," Gaara stated calmly, "You may leave."

Sasuke barely repressed a growl. "It is my job to protect Uzumaki Naruto."

"He will not need your protection whilst he is in my company."

Sasuke's lip curled, his mind racing for a comeback. Unfortunately, the Kazekage beat him before he could come up with a valid retort.

"You may be hired by Konoha, but I am the Kazekage and, as a Suna-nin, you will obey my orders." Green eyes bore into him, calculating, calculating, and the sand around Sasuke's feet tightened forcefully. He was looking into him, through him. Sasuke bit his tongue and bowed. He had no choice, unless he wanted to give his identity away. Fucking bastard!

Naruto looked worried as he gave a gentle tug on Gaara's sleeve. The redhead turned around and continued walking. Naruto followed, but not without sneaking glances at Sasuke over his shoulder. Sasuke had thought there was worry reflected in those blue eyes, but figured it was probably a trick of the light.

The pressure on his feet relented as the tendrils of sand receded back into the ground. Sasuke rolled his ankles a little to get the blood flowing again, unclenching his fists which he hadn't realized he had clenched. There was a burning in his chest. Resentment, irritation, anger. Simmering. Building.

Goddamn it!

-LineBreak-

Sasuke stormed into the room, the door creaking loudly as it crashed into the adjacent wall, as if in resentment for being treated so brutally. He collapsed down onto the bed, and the mattress squeaked under his weight. Sasuke was quiet as he stared up at the cream-painted ceiling, traced the tiny cracks with his eyes and breathed in deeply. Earth…soap…ramen…

He growled as his hand grabbed for the closest thing in the vicinity – a pillow – and chucked it across the room. A clattering sound made him pause. Sasuke sat up, scooted himself over to the edge of the bed and looked down. A picture frame lay facedown on the floor, knocked over by the pillow he had sent flying in his frustration. He spent a few seconds staring at it dumbly, before coming to his senses and reached down to pick it up. The frame was made of wood, good quality wood at that. He flipped the frame around, and was met with –

- Naruto. A younger Naruto, but he could tell it was Naruto all the same. He had yet to see anyone else with that particular shade of gold for hair or that particular hue of blue for eyes. The young Naruto, probably around seven years old at the time, was sitting on the lap of an old man with a grey beard and an impressive amount of wrinkles. 'His grandfather?' Sasuke wondered. The old man was smiling genially, while Naruto…was not. In fact, the little tanned face was serious, and Sasuke felt an unpleasant feeling in his gut at seeing a Naruto without a smile. It didn't feel right. In fact, it felt wrong. Naruto was never emotionless, and if it wasn't a smile that graced the tanned face, it was a scowl or snarl of passionate anger. But never…nothing.

Sasuke snorted. Why did he care anyway? Why the hell was he in the idiot's room in the first place? He placed the picture frame back on the bedside table before burying his face in his hands.

What the hell is wrong with me?

-TBC-

-LineBreak-

Well first off, (gets down on knees and begs) I'm very very very very sorry for disappearing for over a month. I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, and I completely understand if some of you wish I had. Heck, that would certainly be a better excuse than the one I'm about to give you. School's been hectic and the teachers have been drowning our class with homework. So…sorry?

As well, this chapter was hell to write. I knew what to put in it, but I didn't know quite how to flesh it out. It was like trying to scale a wall that didn't have any footholds (now why can't I use that kind of imagery in my writing?). Anyway, since right now it's the end of term holidays, I sat down in front of my laptop and squeezed this chapter out of my fingers. I figured, hey, a crappy chapter was better than no chapter, right?

And I've finally got Gaara in there! Woot woot! Yeah! (Clears throat) Erm…heh heh…can you tell he's my favourite character? Oh, and I promise that I didn't just shove him in there for the sake of it, he is vital to the plot.

Ok…so please give me feedback on what you thought of the chapter (or the story in general if you're a newcomer). I will personally respond to any questions you may have. Just write 'RESPOND' or something in the review so I know if you actually want a response or if you're just musing. Constructive criticism will be embraced and appreciated. And thank you for all the support so far. I really appreciate it.

Review, please! You guys are awesome!

- Nine1991 -