Notes: Big huge apologies for this taking so long. This chapter did not want to get written I swear. Anyhow, here's part 4. A bit of Gaara and Naruto, and another pairing that makes a certain pet store owner upset. Another note, there is a side chapter, chapter 3a, that is currently up on the SasuNaru community (the link is in my profile) and that will be up on all the other pages I have in my profile. The side chapter is a lemon featuring Haku and Gaara, and another character is introduced that might interest some people (if you don't want to read the lemon then you don't have to, the new character leaves before the lemon begins)
In fact, let's just do this: TEASER FROM SIDE CHAPTER 3A! Here is the new character and the part he is in. He will most likely show up more in the fic. Enjoy the teaser:
"They're really amazing, you know?" Haku took a sip from his glass, the alcohol flavored strawberry drink slipping down his throat. He set his glass down and leaned back in his chair, offering the man talking with him a tiny smile.
"Who are?" The man took a healthy gulp of beer, drinking it like it was nothing but a tall glass of water. Haku made a face, wondering how his friend could stand drinking something that didn't have a nice name like daiquiri and had no kind of fruit flavor to it. But that was the kind of person he was, this Zabuza creature. Completely rough around the edges, the kind of guy you'd hear the best whispered rumors about. I heard he could snap your neck like a twig. I heard he could catch a dagger with his teeth then use it on you, even if both of his arms are broken. He's a demon, this Zabuza creature.
Demon wasn't the right word to use. Wolf, however, was the perfect word to use. A wolf who could sure as hell back up the rumors he had acquired. Haku had seen it with his own eyes, seen the large black wolf tear human flesh with his teeth as if it were the most delicious of meats. At the same time he had seen the human form do what the rumors said, snap a neck like a twig, catch a dagger with his teeth then use it even when both arms were broken.
Haku simply loved the fact that such a dangerous creature was sitting down and sharing drinks with him. To think that he could keep such a magnificent animal calm to the point of having a civilized conversation with him...
... the pet shop owner had tried several times to get Zabuza to come to the shop and stay there and be his, but Zabuza was that one animal that could not be locked down. As wonderful as it sounded to become one of Haku's animals to be brought to a good home that was not the kind of life for someone like Zabuza.
"Humans." Haku said with a bright smile, answering Zabuza's earlier question.
Zabuza rolled his eyes. "Oh no. This conversation again." Humans are nice, humans are great. But Haku was too cute to snap at like he'd do to anyone else who kept bringing the same thing up.
Zabuza was the only person alive who thought Haku was cute. Anyone else might've called him a seductive little sneak, but not Zabuza.
"They are! I mean, have you ever seen such an interesting species?"
"This is why you sleep with an animal and not a human?" Haku made a face at Zabuza while the large wolf laughed, taking another gulp of his beer.
"Well... I can't help the fascination with that one. Besides, you won't sleep with me anymore."
"Not that I won't." Zabuza leaned forward and nuzzled his face against Haku's neck, smirking a bit from the startled sound Haku made. Zabuza's face felt like he should've had a beard but he didn't, yet the feeling didn't irritate your skin. Instead it was soft like a wolf's fur, something so soft that you wanted nothing more than to have this man nuzzle you and growl hungrily against your flesh as if he wanted to eat it. "But... that one you've chosen is quite..."
"Unstable?" Haku giggled and ran his hands down Zabuza's arms. Haku always did enjoy petting this one. Even in human form Zabuza's skin felt like something you just had to snuggle against. "He's quite calm these days you know."
"Uh huh. Not when it comes to you and you know it."
"Well... that's how it's supposed to be."
"You know Haku I've always wondered something." Zabuza pulled back to take another swig of his drink while Haku raised his own glass, taking a delicate sip of his own alcohol. Zabuza rolled his eyes at the action, wondering how you could just take a sip of something like alcohol. The stuff was so good that he couldn't help but polish off a bottle as quickly as possible so he could grab another. Zabuza was blessed with an extremely high tolerance of the stuff. "You obviously care for this Gaara, right?"
"What makes you say that?"
"Well for one we're not doing anything right now and we could be. I remember the days when I would come to visit and we'd end up in your bed in less than ten minutes."
"I already told you. You won't sleep with me."
"Fine. What if I say that I will." Haku's eyes widened a bit then he frowned. Leave it to Zabuza to figure him out. "Since when did someone have to give you permission? You know how to get a person to make no mean yes. I've heard plenty of rumors and believe me, I know that they're all true."
"What are you trying to say, Zabuza?"
Zabuza grinned just like the wolf he was. "You're starting to settle down because of him. You're only fucking him, aren't you?"
"Please don't use that word when you're speaking of him." Bingo. Zabuza just hit the nail on the head.
"My apologies. Just making a point."
"Wha-?" Haku blinked for a moment then his eyes widened. "You...! I hate you sometimes!" Zabuza simply replied with a roar of laughter. Haku sighed and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms at his chest and pouting at his friend. Only Zabuza could really get the best of him. "Is that what you were wondering? If I cared for him? Or... more?"
"No. Not at all. I already know the answer to that."
"Yeah yeah. So, what did you want to know?"
"If you care for him so much, why did you let him go?" The beer bottle was empty now and Zabuza settled for holding the bottle by its neck with two of his fingers, waiting for Haku to answer. Getting more beer to drink could wait. This was a question that had been on Zabuza's mind for quite some time. Why give up something so easily if you obviously wanted it?
"Zabuza. None of the animals here are mine to keep."
"That's a bullshit excuse and you know it. I know you, Haku. If you want something that badly you keep it."
"Ah. But that's what's so fascinating about us humans." Haku took another drink, this one actually much longer than the other tiny sips he had been taking. "They do things like that."
"Do things like what?"
Haku took another drink, another large one that almost killed the entire glass. He was imitating Zabuza's drinking habits now, silently showing that the topic at hand was much touchier then he wanted to let on. "They do things like letting the things they care about go."
"Haku..." But Zabuza never got to finish his thought. At that moment the front door to the shop opened and Gaara walked in, hands shoved in his pockets with his normal bland expression on his face. Still clad in his work clothes that could easily pass for clothes you'd wear to a club, Gaara moved with a kind of grace only a feline would have to join Haku and Zabuza.
"Right on time, as usual." Haku stood up and nodded over to Zabuza. "We were just finishing up our conversation." Zabuza frowned over at Haku who simply smiled sweetly at the wolf.
"Yes." Zabuza suddenly grinned. "Walk me to the door, Haku?"
Damn him. Damn him to hell.
And now, on to chapter 4! Enjoy.
Pet
By: Chibi
If possible, the wife was more disgusting than the husband. The husband who always wore suits covered in a film of cigar smoke had a wife who always wore dresses that showed skin that should've been hidden instead of revealed.
When the husband went off to work in some big named office building the wife played the typical part of freeloader, only good for shopping and being attached to the husband's arm when outside the house to be his eyecandy. Somewhere in the mix was love, maybe, something along the lines of her being there for him when he was working at the local burger joint and studying business in whatever college he had gone to.
Of course he was sleeping with secretary A, B, D but not C because C didn't have big enough breast to his liking, and pursuing E by backing her into empty offices and slipping his hand underneath her dress with a wicked grin and dirty fingers that liked to play. He'd watch her scream out things like no stop but she'd end up giggling, spreading her legs, and slipping down her panties with ease.
It didn't bother the freeloader wife at home who maxed out his credit cards while he was playing secretary tag. The freeloader wife who started sleeping with pool boys and limo drivers for kicks. She was on the way to sleeping with the husband's office buddies and even his boss when it was decided that something needed to be done or else the already broken marriage would be just that... broken.
Enter Itachi and his pets.
The husband had heard the name Itachi from a friend of a colleague of a friend. And he had heard of the rare pets that a human eye had never, ever seen. Curious, the husband went to meet this Itachi and these pets, and had found one to his liking.
A bird. A bird with long blond hair trapped in a ponytail, bright blue eyes, and yellow feathers tattooed down her arms and spine that moved all across her body. How the husband longed to touch that skin, move his fingers over those feathers and have a body like that pressed against his own. But he remembered that this wasn't something for him, but for them. For the both of them to share as husband and wife. Animals were always said to bring people closer together, however, his wife wasn't the type to just want an ordinary puppy or house cat.
So the husband bought the bird and brought her home.
The husband also, of course, ended up touching and coming very close to fucking the beautiful loverbird as soon as they got in the car to go home. He learned that those nails of hers were sharp and she had a mean kick that seemed to always hit the mark, right between his legs. But soon she stopped fighting, all it took was a few words of you're mine, you have to listen to me. But it had taken so long to get her to calm down that the husband only had time to touch and be thankful that his pants were large enough to hide the erection that touching had caused.
The wife had been quite pleased when she set her eyes on the creature, going on and on about how beautiful she was and how nice it would be to have company in the house. Their broken marriage was slightly taped back together, with invisible tape mind you, so the cracks were still able to be seen.
When the husband went off to work as he normally did the pet had thought that she could perhaps get a break from dealing with him and his hands. But to her horror the wife took after the husband, and her hands were busy if not busier. And the last thing the pretty bird girl wanted was another woman touching her. Her touch was filthy, contaminated with all those other human men she had touched, secretly caked in the make up of secretary C who her husband had foolishly ignored. The only woman, only creature, only anything that was supposed to touch the loverbird was her mate, her matching pink partner who had been stolen from her by that other disgusting human.
Sakura.
And across town on the same night a second loverbird lay, curled up on her side in a large bed decorated in navy blue sheets and black covered pillows. Her hair was short and pink, almost looking like it had been chopped off. Always kept naked except for when she was brought out the house to be, like that husband's wife, an arm attachment. Along the entire right side of her body she was tattooed in pink feathers. In a few places, like along her breast and the small of her back, the tattoos were actually real feathers, giving her a more inhuman yet beautiful appearance. She lied there and listened to the shower water behind the bathroom door, her human master silent as he washed himself before bed.
When she had first gotten there she was actually surprised when the man did nothing. He simply lied in bed next to her, occasionally held her and played with the feathers on her body. Then he'd dress her up in pretty human gowns at night and bring her to dinner parties where she'd watch him smile and laugh, having conversation with other humans. She had noticed how young he was compared to the other human men, and how his smiles seemed to be more genuine then theirs. She had wanted to ask him about it but never really got the chance to, because she had met the answer face to face on this particular evening.
Father. Her master had a father.
Not just a father, but a boss. The older man ran the company his son worked for, a company that she could tell he didn't want to work for. He seemed much too happy and too carefree to be confined into a business suit, and when he smoked those cigars he usually choked, and when he drank he only took a sip instead of a glass or three. And she had heard the father ask what about that pet of yours? And she had heard the father ask is she warming the bed like a woman should? The pink loverbird had heard her master respond with lies, with yes father, of course father, as he unwillingly shared business talk and scotch with him.
And she had heard the father ask what she was hoping he wouldn't ask. Can I see her, with her master agreeing to his father's wishes.
The shower water stopped and she listened as her master stepped out. She didn't have to turn to look at him to know that there was a towel wrapped around his waist, another in his hand as he dried his hair that always stayed a dirty blond color no matter how many times he washed it. She would normally turn to look at him, and at times they would talk for a bit. Small conversation that sometimes made her laugh, especially after nights like this when the both of them had to go to one of those rich company people dinner parties. He had a tendency to make fun of every person at the parties, making faces and changing his voice to sound like some old guy who had too much money to count.
But tonight she didn't turn to look at him.
He also didn't say anything to her. Instead he climbed into the bed once he slipped on a pair of plain white boxes, silently watching her lie there with her back turned to him. He wanted to say something but no words came out, because what exactly could he say? Can I see her? His father had asked him, and he had agreed to it.
Of course in the back of his mind he knew what it meant when his father had said it, and then when his father had took her hand and, "showed her around," "took her someplace quieter so they could talk more." But he had simply watched them walk away, silently hoping that maybe he was wrong, maybe someplace quieter meant a place to simply talk since there had been too many conversations going on at the party.
Her complete silence slapped him in the face for thinking something so foolish.
Whether she blamed him or not was debatable and at the moment asking that question was the wrong thing to do. Saying anything was the wrong thing to do, "I'm sorry," felt too superficial when he practically knew what would happen, even if he was sorry for it. "Are you o.k.," sounded stupid, absolutely ridiculous because of course she wasn't o.k. She had told him once that she was part of a matching set, that somewhere out there she had a mate waiting for her. One of the small conversations they shared with each other, one of the reasons why he refused to touch her, especially since she didn't want to be touched by anyone or anything else.
Ino.
"Loverbirds can't live without each other so can never be separated."
Sakura...
... Ino.
so please be careful..."
Truth
"So you kissed him?"
"Shhh! He'll tell."
Gaara rolled his eyes as he placed two matching cards down on the ground before looking at the last one in his hand. "Kisame won't tell." He muttered, not even paying attention to the large shark glaring underneath him from the fish tank of a floor. "If he does then my claws will have to dance across his skin." Gaara made sure to scratch his nails over the floor, causing the large, threatening shark to swim away into a corner. Not just in animal form, but in human form Kisame was much larger, but Gaara had a thing about being able to beat up creatures much larger than himself. And since Kisame wasn't one of Itachi's precious auctionable, desirable, show off for the sheer beauty of it pets it didn't matter if the shark man had a scratch or two... or two hundred on his body. "Now, you kissed him?"
"Yeah." Naruto looked over his five cards, frowning over at Gaara and the fact that he only had one card left. He hated playing cards with Gaara because he always won, but there was nothing else to do while Itachi was off at one of his meetings. "Got any sixes?"
"Go fish." Gaara couldn't help but smirk at the cute, frustrated pout on Naruto's face as he drew his card. The pout grew more annoyed when the fox boy realized that he still had no matching cards to place down on the ground. "When did you kiss him?" Gaara asked.
"Um... last week."
"And you're just now telling me? It's been a week." Unknown to anyone, maybe except for Haku, Gaara had a thing for wanting to listen to gossip. Not that he'd admit it, and not that he'd ever pass around any interesting news, but he did secretly enjoy listening to what was going on around him.
"Yeah, I know. I just... I've been trying to forget, I guess."
"Why?" Gaara paused for a moment. "Got any tens?"
"Ha! Go fish!" Naruto beamed, clinging onto any type of chance that he could stay in the game. "Oh, and because... Sasuke isn't my master, Itachi is."
"There is that." Gaara drew a card. "And a pet is supposed to be obedient to his master. However.." Gaara placed the card down along with his final card, a tiny smirk on his face. "... you really like our master's little brother, don't you?"
"Awww... you won again!" Naruto threw his cards down and crossed his arms at his chest. "You always win... we need a new game."
"Naruto?"
"Yes?"
"You didn't answer my question." Gaara began to pick the cards up, putting them back in the box. "You really like Sasuke, don't you?"
"Well..." Why should I stop? Sasuke had asked him that night. Look at me, Naruto. "... I... I think..." I... I can't. Naruto remembered how he had responded to that, how he responded to that voice, those lips, that everything that was Sasuke.
That everything that was his master's little brother. Because if I do I'd fall in love with you! It had been a week since then and already Naruto knew that it was too late. He'd fall in love with him? He had a feeling that he already did fall in love with him. So soon? That was the problem with being a pet, you tended to fall as quick as it was easy with the right amounts of affection from a person. How long did it take a dog or a cat to love their master? As long as they were fed and petted that was it, love, just like that.
And Sasuke had done just that. Fed him with those damn smiles he never seemed to share with anyone else, fed him with those open arms for Naruto to run into, petted him so much that at times when Naruto closed his eyes he could feel that hand running against his fur, his skin.
His master's little brother! How could he? "I shouldn't have..." Naruto lowered his head, ashamed. How could he do that? "... Itachi is..."
"Itachi is your master, just like he's mine. But..."
"... but?"
"Haku... Haku is the one that I..." Gaara's eyes widened, as if coming out of a trance and realizing what he was about to admit to. Naruto just smiled, his tails wagging behind him from seeing the not so invisible blush make its way across Gaara's cheeks.
"You don't have to say it. I understand what you're getting at. Still... I thought I had more control then that."
"Oh?" After a moment Naruto moved closer to Gaara and closed his eyes, laying down next to him and resting his head in the panther's lap. How odd it would look had they been in animal form, a fox lying his head in a panther's lap. "You mean around Sasuke?"
"Yeah." Naruto couldn't help but smile when he felt Gaara's finger scratch behind his ear. "I mean he was nice, but still... he's not Itachi."
"No, he's not." Gaara let his nails trail down, over Naruto's back, the fox boy arching his back as a weird little mewing sound that was close to a purr left his lips. Times like this made Gaara realize how easy it was to fall for Naruto, he had that gift of being adorably sexy. "But when someone is nice to us..." As obedient as a pet could be, it could also be the most fickle creature in the world. "... and Sasuke is exactly that towards his brother's animals, especially you." How many times had Gaara himself rubbed against Sasuke's leg with his body when he came up to visit? How many times had Gaara himself jumped at him and tackled him to the ground, attacking his face with his tongue? Still loyal to Itachi, always would be, but Gaara was no fool and would take whatever he could get.
Because when was the last time he was able to tackle Itachi to the ground like that?
When was the last time Itachi paid him, paid any of them any type of attention that didn't involve an auction or pleasure for himself? Even when he petted Naruto it usually came after sex, or when sex was coming around the corner.
It was a silent question they had, all of the animals, all of the pets that belonged to Itachi. Why was their master that way?
"He's seen me, Gaara. I let him see me."
"I figured that when you said you kissed him." One of Gaara's nails played over Naruto's lower back, right above his tails. Naruto practically lost his mind and melted, curling up as much as he could against Gaara. "He's probably questioning all the animals his brother has, wondering if they are like you."
"He thought it was a dream." Naruto muttered. His voice couldn't really get any higher with Gaara pampering him the way he was. Gaara had a not so secret soft spot for Naruto. "But I don't think he's thinking that anymore."
"I wouldn't think it either."
"Hm? Why?" Gaara didn't say anything for a long moment. "Gaara?"
"Sit up." Naruto looked confused for a moment but did as Gaara asked, sitting in front of him. Gaara watched Naruto for a moment before he reached over, gently grabbing onto his chin and pulling him closer, close enough to look into those eyes Naruto had. He had those romance novel eyes, the ones people could just drown into and not even notice that they were running out of air from falling underneath the deep blue waters. "This is why."
"Wha-? What do you mean?"
"I would want to think that someone like you were real." Gaara brushed a finger against Naruto's lips. "I would want to think that someone like you were more than a dream. It wouldn't be fair if I only got to see you when I slept."
"Gaara..." For some reason Naruto's heart began beating faster. For some reason he felt the room get warm, a bit too warm. For some reason he wasn't breathing in the same rhythm he was before. Maybe it was because he finally noticed that as Gaara spoke to him, their lips would end up drawing closer and closer to each other. Maybe it was because his mind finally reminded him that hello, this was Gaara sitting in front of him, leaning towards him and breathing lightly against his lips.
Gaara. One of those pets whispered about in the shop, Naruto remembered. That name was known as being as fierce as it was beautiful. As untouchable as it was desirable. Naruto would hear that name during his time at the shop, wonder why exactly it left legs quivering from nighttime images involving moonlight and later blissful good mornings spent in bed with no memories of clothing. Naruto would hear that name during his time at the shop, wonder why exactly the store owner himself couldn't stop himself from being around Gaara, finding some excuse to touch him, finding some excuse to brush against him and whisper in his ear. When Gaara left the shop all the animals whispered, whispered about the contract Haku made and altered, and Naruto wondered just what was it that made people react like this to Gaara.
In the shop Naruto was the one who didn't just whisper about Gaara like everyone else. He actually spoke to him, actually got to know him and dared to call him a friend. Was that why he couldn't see it? Because they were friends? Being sold to Itachi didn't help, it only made them get closer and made them both dare to call each other friends. Hearing stories about a friend was just... weird, especially stories about good looks and possible moments suited for good sex happening in a large city. Your mind would think my friend? Like that? Really? Since when?
Since... now.
The kiss was inevitable when the two of them really took the time to think about it. Naruto hearing things about Gaara, Gaara hearing things about Naruto. But what made Naruto so appealing, what always made him appealing ever since they first met, was that Naruto never had any clue what he did to people or what he could do to people. Anything anyone ever whispered about Naruto, some comment about his looks, that smile, that damn forever addicting smile... he never caught onto it. Gaara knew what he was capable of, oh yes he most certainly knew, but Naruto was still insanely cute, somehow innocent. Only he could be innocent while seducing his friend, perhaps even closer to a best friend, with his lips the way he was.
It wasn't fair, really, to have the friend named Naruto. Then again, it wasn't fair, really, to have the friend named Gaara. Which one was the dangerously beautiful one?
Usually, when one kissed a friend, especially a kiss that had Naruto's toes curled and Gaara trying to pull the fox boy impossibly close, those negative thoughts came into play. What happens now? Will things be the same? Will this end the friendship? For some reason, maybe it was because they weren't human, but for some reason neither of them even had a single thought like that. End friendship? Not likely, this was just pure curiosity and maybe a bit of secret dreams had in the middle of a hot shower.
The kiss ended with Gaara quietly licking at Naruto's lips. Tasting them, for a last time perhaps? Maybe a first? No questions came up about an again, a why, they just stayed silent in each other's company. Naruto with his eyes closed, his lips parted and his tails wrapped loosely around his body as Gaara let his tongue play over his lips some more, trailing over the whisker marks, down to the neck to entice a soft moan to leave Naruto's throat. Why now? Why this moment? Why not earlier, why not later? It didn't matter, really. What was the point in asking?
Naruto's ears suddenly twitched and Gaara growled a bit, the two pulling away from each other. Without saying a word Gaara opened the box of cards and shuffled them, dealing each of them the cards needed to play another round of Go Fish. For some reason Gaara liked playing that game, probably because it irritated the hell out of Kisame, especially since Gaara loved to emphasis the words go fish and slam the cards down against the floor where Kisame swam underneath them.
"I'll beat you this time." Naruto said, just in time for the office door to open. Itachi stepped in, not even surprised to see Gaara and Naruto playing that silly game. Instead he slipped off his jacket and walked over to his desk, sitting down after he hung his jacket over his chair. He kept his black leather gloves on, his hands still a bit cold from the walk outside after his lunch meeting at the new cafe a few blocks away.
"How many times has he lost?" Itachi asked, setting a few folders down from his meeting.
"About seven, maybe eight, I lost... count..." Gaara's voice trailed off when he got a good look at the folders sitting on the desk. It had been a week, but...
... the auction folders all looked the same.
Names of old and new faces of the people attending, possible animals they could like, who had the most money so Itachi knew who to be most generous with when it came to his animals. Naruto looked up and actually shuddered, quickly looking away from the desk and the folders on it. Last time... last time Ino and Sakura had been separated. And last time... last time he had to deal with that horrible snake and the possible consequences of upsetting the disgusting creature.
It had been a whole week... maybe some silly thoughts of a break had crossed Naruto's mind.
Gaara frowned and set his cards up before standing, walking up to Itachi's desk. Naruto's head shot up and everything seemed to move in slow motion as he watched Gaara stand in front of the desk, nearly glaring at Itachi. Glaring... at his master. And still in the same type of slow motion, everything being played frame by frame, Gaara said what every one of Itachi's pets wanted to say but never did.
"No more."
"Excuse me?" Itachi looked up at Gaara and rose an eyebrow at him. "No more what?"
"No more. No more of these auctions." Gaara was... going against Itachi? His master? "It's been going on for too long. There's no reason for it." Naruto wondered why Gaara was doing this. Out of all people he would've thought he himself would've protested since he had to deal with it all the time. Gaara, at least, got to go home.
Go home... to Haku. Go home and... Naruto's eyes widened a bit. Go home and lie, lie to that person he...
"Itachi is your master, just like he's mine. But..."
"... but?"
"Haku... Haku is the one that I..." Go home and lie to that person... he loved. Lie and pretend that nothing was happening with the animals. Go home and pretend that they weren't scared, that Naruto wasn't scared, that their very own master wasn't breaking their contracts.
Ino and Sakura...
Then he got to come back to Itachi the next day and see the results of his lie to Haku, because if Haku ever found out it would certainly end. Just one word to Haku and the auction would be over, but Gaara always stayed quiet.
Because... he was a pet.
"Gaara... are you... speaking against me?" Naruto winced at the tone of Itachi's voice. Questioning while answering the question for Gaara. You better say that you're not, there is no other option. And Naruto watched Gaara and could tell that he so badly wanted to say yes, yes damnit I'm speaking against you!
Because... he was a pet.
He was a pet... which meant that he couldn't say yes. Naruto could see the defeated look on his friend's face. For a second, just for a second, Naruto thought of standing with Gaara but he remembered, Naruto remembered those consequences for going against Itachi. So he sat, just sat, and closed his eyes when Gaara shook his head. "No... I'm not speaking against you."
"Good." Gaara turned to sit back down with Naruto but stopped when he heard Itachi's chair being pushed back. "Just a minute, Gaara."
Again, everything happened in slow motion. Naruto sat and watched Itachi walk up to Gaara and wrap his arms around his waist, pulling him tightly against him. Naruto sat, frozen, shocked, not believing what he was seeing. Gaara, trying to pull away from Itachi while at the same time leaning back against him, feeling those leather gloved hands move slowly up, then back down his body. Over his chest, down over his hips and thighs, as Itachi made some kind of sensually evil growling noise into Gaara's ear.
"Don't..." Gaara's eyes flew to the clock in the room, knowing, knowing that soon... soon "...Haku..."
"Shhhhh. We have time."
"No... h-he'll be here... he'll find out..."
"What?" Naruto shook his head in disbelief, not believing what he was seeing. Didn't Itachi remember... Gaara's contract? "Itachi-sama, you can't..." But Itachi glared at Naruto, telling him to keep quiet, one of his leather gloved hands moving back and passing over Gaara's ass, a tiny grin on the man's face.
How long had this been going on? How long had Itachi been breaking Gaara's contract? How could Naruto not know? Those times Itachi left the room and didn't return for a while. Naruto would go to the door and hope to talk to Gaara... but he wouldn't be there. Those were times way before Haku showed up, or way after Haku showed up. But not when there was...
... Naruto's eyes flew over to the door, his ears twitching.
"Itachi-sama..."
"Hush, Naruto."
"But..." Haku... was already outside the door... Naruto could hear him.
He heard him... he heard him as he stood there, practically burning holes into the door with his eyes. He heard him... oh no...
... how long... had Haku been standing there? How much... had he heard?
Haku stood by the door, an unreadable expression on his face.
So... that was the reason why Itachi bought all those animals.
Not only that, but he had the nerve to touch what was his.
Itachi was lucky enough to convince Haku to sell him Naruto. That was something the pet shop owner had been hesitant to do. Naruto was still young and there was a great chance that he couldn't handle a man like Itachi. That was what his training had really been for.
"I... tachi..." But for Itachi to even think about touching his most precious animal, his most precious...
"Relax... Gaara."
"N-no... I'm not... supposed to..."
"Supposed to what? You belong to me, Gaara, and you do as I say." ... for Itachi to even think, to even fucking think about touching Gaara...
Haku's unreadable expression changed, changed into something so cold and so deadly that if he wanted to he could open the door and shatter Itachi completely if he wanted to by simply raising an eyebrow at him. But this was Haku and he played the game in a much more... deliciously sadistic way. Itachi was nothing but an eager child who had made the mistake of playing with the wrong man.
After that, Haku smirked at the door and listened to Itachi and Gaara. Listened so closely that he was able to see every part of Gaara that was being touched. He knew Gaara's sounds that well while Itachi was simply learning them for the first time.
At least, he better had been learning them for the first time.
No, Haku knew it was the first time, because Gaara was his and he knew immediately when his Gaara had been touched.
And just in case if he was wrong...
... this was Itachi's first time playing with fire. What he didn't know was that Haku controlled the flames he was playing with. And if it wasn't his first time...
Naruto's ears twitched again from inside the office.
And he winced... from what he heard Haku say.
End Truth
Next Chapter: Runaway
Preview:
The last thing Sasuke ever expected to see was... "Naruto?"
He sat by his car in the parking lot to his brother's company. "Sasuke." Naruto looked up at him, his eyes pleading, begging. "Don't make me stay here."
"What?"
"Take me home with you. Don't make me stay here late with him."
"With... who?"
"Itachi."
"My brother?" Sasuke looked confused. "Why?"
And Naruto whispered the word that he had grown to hate ever since he was introduced to Uchiha Itachi. "Auction."