Chapter 17

"…arrogant, selfish, degenerate, spiteful…."

"If I can just…"

"…Traitorous, condescending, smug…"

"…have a…."

"…apathetic, backstabbing, double-crossing…"

"word?"

Sasuke panted against the phone, face flushed and eyes glittering with rage. On the other end of the line, Itachi waited patiently to see if his brother was finally done. Itachi hadn't quite been aware of just how many adjectives there were in existence. He had a sneaking suspicion that Sasuke had had a thesaurus surgically inserted into his skull.

"Well?" Itachi ventured, voice calm and slightly patronizing. This only succeeded in make Sasuke growl in irritation.

"Don't you talk down to me!" Sasuke hissed. "You're lucky I don't put a bullet through your skull!" Soft laughter followed this statement, and Sasuke wanted to slam the phone on his desk out of frustration.

"Come now, Sasuke-kun. Is it really all that bad?"

"All that bad? He pulled the rug out from under me! I knew you were a dick, but I never thought you would do something like this!"

"Consider it a lesson then. Always be prepared for the worst." Itachi responded pleasantly, sounding sickeningly brotherly.

"You don't even care! This is our parents' company and you don't even care!" Sasuke snarled, frustration causing his brows to crease and his mouth to tighten.

"Why should I care about their stupid company? It was their company that killed them. Honestly, I'm surprised you're so damned determined to protect the damn thing." Itachi snapped. "After all, if it hadn't been for the company, father never would have missed you fifth birthday…"

"Shut up."

"…Your sixth grade piano recital…"

"Fuck off."

"…Your high-school graduation…"

"GO TO HELL!" Sasuke snarled. "This isn't about that! This is about you, you jack-ass. You screwed me over, remember?"

"That was not my intention." Itachi's voice was matter-of-fact. Sasuke didn't buy it.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure. You were just an innocent victim in all this." Sasuke growled back.

"Yep, that's about right." Itachi noted happily. Sasuke slammed the phone receiver against the wood of his desk. "Ouch." Itachi whined when Sasuke placed it back by his ear. "That was unnecessary."

"Unnecessary my ass. You just had to fuck me over, didn't you? You just can't help yourself. I asked you one thing- not even a difficult thing, by your terms- figure out who was screwing me over. Congrats, you found him." Itachi rolled his eyes at his little brother's grumbling.

"I'll have you know I had nothing to do with Gaara stalking Naruto. I do, however, know who did."

"I don't want to hear it, Itachi. Everything out of your mouth is a load of shit."

"…You know, come to think of it, you should have figured it out yourself. I mean, it's really not that hard to piece together. Who has access to all your internal files? Who knows when and where Naruto-kun goes to lunch? Who went missing when Naruto had that little binge-drinking mishap?" Sasuke took in a breath. He shouldn't have been surprised that Itachi knew, but it annoyed him. He'd done his best to keep that part of Naruto's history away from common knowledge. The blond was very sensitive about it.

"If you were half as smart as everyone thinks you are, you'd know by now." Itachi finished off pleasantly. "But I always said you were grossly overestimated." Sasuke, who had by now decided this conversation was going nowhere, growled a cold good-bye.

"Just one more thing, little brother- a warning."

"Warning? Planning on turning on me again?" Sasuke grumbled.

"Shut up and listen, otouto. I know how you are about things you think are yours." Itachi said softly. Sasuke scowled at the phone. "But some things can't be hoarded. Push to hard, and you'll get what you want- he won't leave you now- but you just might break him."

Sasuke gripped the phone hard, his breath catching.

"And I know how much you detest broken toys."

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Unlike Sasuke, who had innumerable adjectives at his disposal, Naruto had none. No adjectives, no adverbs, not even one decent noun. He just stood there, mouth open, and gaped. It seemed just as effective as howling at her, however, because her head snapped in his direction and she froze. Naruto saw her mouth move, but either it was too quiet to here, or she had become mute too.

They stood like that for about ten minutes, when Naruto was sent halfway through the roof when the bitchy secretary from earlier tapped his shoulder.

"Uh, sir? No one answered the page, but I could send a maid up too…Sir?" Naruto just stared at her, not quite sure she was speaking any language he'd ever heard.

"Yooah, wha?" Naruto finally managed, which only earned him a confused stare.

"Naruto." Again the blond jumped nearly out of his skin and swung back around. Temari was standing next to him now, face nervous but controlled. "We need to talk."

"Talk?" Naruto managed. "I'm talking to Gaara." Naruto pointed at the secretary as if expecting her to back up his claim. She just stared at him. Stupid whore.

"Gaara can wait. You know we need to talk." Temari said softely, eyes casting over Naruto with concern. At the sight of what could have been pity in her eyes, Naruto felt a spark of anger well in him. Shock faded, and the blond scowled at her.

"Yeah. I bet you're good at talking. A real chatterbox, I'll wager." Naruto growled, blue eyes flashing. Temari bit her lip and began to pull at Naruto's arm.

"Come on. Upstairs. This is not the place." She murmured, casting a look around. A few people were staring at them. Naruto was very recognizable, after all.

"Of course." Naruto grumbled sarcastically, but followed her anyway. "I'd hate for my personal business to be blabbed around to strangers." Temari tried not to wince. She'd never actually seen Naruto angry before. Drunk angry was different- drunk angry was pointless and silly. This anger was harsh and stern. Almost disappointed. Temari felt very old at the moment. Ancient- as if she'd never been young in the first place.

She led him to the elevator she had just stepped out of, pulling his arm. He wrenched free of her grip, mouth tight and eyes narrow. Naruto was not a suspicious person, by any means. He liked the idea that people were inherently good. He wanted to have faith in people. He enjoyed it. He made friends, that's what he did- and this, no top of everything else that had been going on in his life lately, was making it harder and harder to keep his ideals intact.

Once the shiny silver doors closed, Temari let out a low sigh.

"I want to tell you that I'm sorry, but I don't regret anything." Her voice was firm. Naruto stared at her.

"What the hell does that mean? You're sorry but you don't regret it- that's not being sorry!" Naruto growled, brow creasing with hurt.

"I'm sorry you're hurt by what I did. That was never my intention. But this is business, and I did what Gaara asked me too- just like you would if Sasuke asked you."

"I wouldn't! Sasuke would never ask me to sneak around like this! How much have you told him? What does he know? Shit- shit- are you how he found out about Itachi!?! Do you have any idea what…" Naruto ranted angrily. Temari's less-than-apologetic attitude was doing little to ease Naruto's agitation.

"I don't know anything about Itachi. That mess was Kankuro's doing. All Gaara wanted me to deliver was you." Temari informed him, shifted uncomfortably. It was easy to say she didn't regret anything, but when there's a nasty little voice in the back of your head whining about what a horrible person you are, it's hard to believe it.

"Excuse me? DELIVER? What am I, ramen? You can't just package me up and…oh, fuck! You told him I got drunk! This whole mess- Sasuke, Gaara, that stupid ki…" Naruto cut himself off abruptly, reminding himself that he was talking to a lying, sneaking, backstabbing informant. Telling her about him kissing Sasuke was not a bright move. "…This was all YOUR fault!"

"My fault? I didn't make you let Gaara into your apartment. I didn't make Sasuke kiss you- oh, don't look shocked, I'm hardly stupid, and you're blushing- and I didn't make you like it. My job was to tell Gaara all I knew about you. Where you live, where you go to eat, what you do in your spare time. He did with it what he liked. I'm not saying I don't deserve some blame- You'll find bad luck follows me around half the time- but you can't pan this all out on me!" Temari was stern, and had her hands on her hips, giving him a look that Naruto made Naruto think of Sakura in her most irritated-mother mode.

The elevator doors opened, and Temari waved him out of the elevator.

"You-you….You are NOT good at apologizing!" Naruto cried angrily, waving his arms up in exasperation as the two of them walked down the hall. Temari shrugged. In the back of her mind she felt a prickle of concern. Gaara was going to be furious when he found out that her cover had been blown. Not to mention what the Uchiha would do…

Actually, she should consider herself lucky that it was Naruto who caught her in the act, and not his much more short-tempered partner.

"I'm not trying to apologize. I know you're pissed- I accept and understand that- but I can't honestly say that I wouldn't do the same thing again if I had the chance. Turn left." Naruto cast her a confused glance, and she waved at the hallway ahead. "You came to see Gaara, yes? His room is too the left."

"You are making it hard to argue with you." Naruto grumbled. "I feel like yelling would be pointless. I've never met anyone so apathetic…oh, right, Sasuke." Naruto corrected himself, with a frown. He shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts and glared at her. "I really just want to scream at you right now."

It occurred to Temari then that she wasn't really playing fair. Years of carefully maneuvering around Gaara's volatile temper had made her edgy and immensely cautious. She had trained herself to avoid confrontation, to curb and clip arguments. But Naruto needed to vent- no doubt he'd been dying to vent for days- and she was rather stubbornly cutting her off at the pass. She stopped, glancing carefully down the hall, she pulled Naruto close, keeping a wary eye in the direction of her brother's room.

"Look, Naruto. If this were any other time, I'd let you have a go at me. I'm sure I've got it coming. But I need you to understand something- Anything and everything that happened and will happen between you, Gaara, and Sasuke, is what would have happened with or without me, eventually." Naruto pouted, and crossed his arms over his chest. Temari had lowered her voice, and kept glancing about nervously, but her voice stayed stern and unwavering.

"I also need you to understand that I had to do this. I know you think I'm full of shit, but It's true. I needed to know who I was, who Gaara was, and what I was capable of. I'm sorry you had to be involved- you're a nice guy- but I'm glad I did it." The sound of a door opening nearly send Temari through the ceiling, and she pulled away from Naruto quickly. Down the hall, Kankuro's broad form appeared. Naruto heard Temari give a relieved sigh. Kankuro, however, looked like he'd just been electrocuted. In an instant, he was at their side.

"What the hell, Temari? You brought HIM here?"

"Yes, Kankuro. I invited him over for tea." Temari grumbled, rolling her eyes. "He came here on his own, you moron." Kankuro glared at her.

"Guess you're covers blown. As if Gaara wasn't already in a foul mood." Kankuro grumbled, looking troubled.

"He's in a bad mood? Why? He should be pleased after what he pulled on…" Temari stopped, glancing at Naruto, who was suddenly glowering at her. "…after this morning."

"I don't think now is a good time to discuss this." Kankuro murmured warningly, glancing first at Naruto, then back in the direction of the Gaara's room.

"Well, then, what should we do about this?" Temari demanded, pointing casually at Naruto.

"I have no idea. He's bound to mess it up worse, I'd imagine." Kankuro grumbled, not looking at the blond.

"Um, hello? Standing right here." Naruto pointed out, pouting.

"What did you even come here for? The meeting isn't until Friday." Kankuro grumbled. "Shouldn't you be off sucking face with Uch…"

"Uzumaki." All three of them jumped at the sound of a soft, icy voice. At some point, Gaara had left his room, and was now leaning casually against the wall, watching them with emotionless eyes. Naruto could practically hear Temari and Kankuro's hearts freezing in their chests.

"Hello, Gaara." Naruto said cheerfully. He wasn't particularly happy with either of them right now, and he couldn't seem to find it in him to be too awfully sympathetic. "I was just coming up to pay you a private visit. Are you free?" Gaara's eyes surveyed him calmly, before turning to stare firmly at his older sibling.

"Of course." His voice didn't sound particularly pissed. That, however, meant absolutely nothing. Inside, it was quite possible he was about to spout smoke from his ears. Naruto felt a little grin grow on his face at that ridiculous thought.

"Temari, Kankuro." The two stiffened, watching their younger brother nervously. "Get out." Ah, there it was. Tightly constrained fury. Naruto felt rather appeased.

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Author's notes

Urgh, filler chapters. If I wasn't me, I'd beat me over the head. But I am me, and I prefer consciousness (or at least, a more exciting form of unconsciousness than what a sharp blow to the head would provide) so no hard knocks for me! Yeah!!!

The next chapter will have some exciting Gaara/Naruto action, though, promise! I just needed to get through the Temari thing. I didn't handle it exactly as I had planned to- I planned MUCH more yelling- but Naruto's been doing a lot of yelling lately, and if I were Temari I wouldn't put up with it. He's just lucky she's not like Sakura, or he would have received a sharp rap on the head.

I have a riddle for you (ha, ha, rapid change in subject!): What word is singular, then you add an 's' and it becomes plural, but when you add a second 's', it becomes singular again?

Good luck, I didn't get it. (Prepare yourself- I'm about to do another 180 in the subject department)

I recently went to see 'Hannibal Rising'. Personally, I was never a big fan of Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal Rising, however, was twisted is the best possible way. I was delighted and disturbed. Which is the state in which I prefer to exist, so all in all it was quite an excellent use of an evening.

You'll hear from me after spring break, believe it! (1)

Footnotes:
1. Naruto's catchphrase. Anyone who didn't know that must now pull a Rock-Lee and run around their house two hundred times on your hands.