"Hyuuga."
"Uchiha."
Chirp. Chirp.
It was not as much of a rare sight as it was a tenuous one—all confrontations up to date had been disturbingly nonviolent. Just a casual fling of glares and insults. Of course, with the two clans, they were always trying to pull up old vendettas and such (certain customs just simply had to be maintained) but now that Naruto had become an ongoing addition, any truce or compromise seemed bleak and futile.
…or so they all thought.
Naruto paused from his recollection of the fight and glowered at the two through his lashes as they attempted to stare each other down to death. The ominous amount of chakra radiating off from either one was enough to keep the entire cleanup team from approaching.
"Always a surprise to see you, Uchiha," drawled Neji. "Now why don't you crawl back to your boring patrol?"
"Shows what you know." Sasuke sneared. "Unlike someone, I never leave a teammate behind."
Pairs of nervous eyes landed on Neji, awaiting his next comment.
"Naruto gave me permission to escort our delegate to safety first. Don't you know? Teamwork comes from trust. Something you obviously lack."
Heads whipped back to Sasuke.
"Teamwork is useless without knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your teammates. Never thought of that, huh? I guess that's the kind of washed-up ninja you are."
ouch…
Pale eyes narrowed. "Always with the attitude, Uchiha. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why he wanted another partner!"
snap…
"There's no need to feel so insecure already, girly man. Were you born into the wrong sex?"
BURN!!!
Naruto slammed a palm into his forehead and let it slide down his face in exasperation. Oh for the love of…whatever. How old were they already? Must it always be like this whenever they met?
They were still bickering. Honestly. And people accused him of being unreasonable. Well, he was unreasonable only when he wanted to be. Plus, he was still mad at Sasuke for all the bad things he said about him. Payback will have to wait. If his senses were right, things were going to get ugly fast.
Two preoccupied jounins. A terrified cleanup crew. Some activity trickling through from beyond their makeshift shield. Another group traveling up from the direction of Konoha's main gate. A confrontation just waiting to happen.
He took a deep breath…
— and jumped to the side just as a kunai grazed past.
It suddenly rained violently of kunais with explosive tags attached and everyone scrambled madly for cover.
anbu was here.
Disclaimer: naruto and co. belongs to kishimoto masashi.
-----
a sasunaru fic, Duplex Signal, by purple jellybean hoarder
chapter 4: here comes trouble
It came suddenly, in a conclusive flash of brilliance, as the world came crashing down and left me reeling from the implications of that very realization.
Bloody fantastic.
It was odd. It was unexpected. And from that point on in my young life I knew it meant trouble. It was bigger than ramen. It was worse than Lee's leotard. And it surely was a heck of a lot tougher to deal with than a pain in the ass.
No.
I valiantly wrestled with the mere stupidity of it just as I was then wrestling with the meaty hands that were after my neck. Damn crossroads in life. Damn abnormal upbringing. Damn perverts to hell.
I punched a face in retaliation. And kicked another cheaply in the shins. I was not going down without a fight. Uzumaki Naruto was made of tougher materials and the world was about to know just how difficult things was when I was pissed.
Were the times I spent with dear Sakura-chan wasted? The efforts I took in trying to understand the minds of the opposite sex complete and utter failures? The slow yet steady development of my obsession (coughfetishcough) for pants a mere cover-up for something more?
I cursed and I cursed and I cursed.
Dammit, I am not gay!
… am I?
---
"I have a plan." Sakura declared.
"What?"
"I have a plan to get Sasuke-kun to come to our meetings more often."
"Not interested," yawned Shikimaru.
"Don't listen to him, Sakura." Ino shifted her chair closer, her eyes already sparkling. "What's this plan?"
The group had met up again, this time at a homey sushi bar. As expected, not everyone was present—Shino, Tenten and Lee were away, but at least Hinata and Neji were back.
"I was thinking of doing something that was not too damaging, but enough to make him feel annoyed that he'll come to avoid it."
"Go on."
"Hm, how about haggling?"
"I wouldn't suggest it," interrupted Kiba. "He gets physically violent if you poke his ass too hard."
"Well, let's try nagging." Ino said, giving Kiba a weird look. When did he become the voice of reason?
"Useless."
"Stalking?"
"Tacky."
"er…blackmail?"
A scoff. "With what?"
"Kiba! You've shot down every damn suggestion we've made! Let's see you give us any great ideas!" shouted Ino.
"Thought you'd never ask."
"What!" If they weren't all flabbergasted before, they surely were now.
Kiba rubbed his hand gleefully and leaned in close. "What we need, people," he said lowly, "is an offering."
At this, they all slowly turned around to face the other table and stared at Naruto who was busy trying to decide on eating a toro, an ikura gunkan or an onigiri. Curious blue eyes blinked back at them and the four immediately huddled back together.
"I don't know," Sakura rubbed a finger against her lower lip. "Wouldn't this be… barbaric?"
"Ya, like the sacrificial lamb or something." Ino's eyes darted nervously.
That's the freaking point. "Nonsense!" Kiba waved his hand. "Look, you want Sasuke here, and I want… nevermind about that. The point is, this plan is foolproof." And they all turned to look at Naruto again.
"Um…" Naruto looked uncomfortable. "Is there something on my face?"
"Hey Naruto," Kiba tone was light and casual. "You've been to Sasuke's house right—?"
If Naruto hadn't been so surprised by the question, he'd feel insulted. Of course he had been to the Uchiha residence. It was like his second home. His crash home. He broke into it, raided it, accidentally trashed it one time. It was awesome.
"—then you would obviously know where Hakka is kept, right?"
Naruto instantly lost his appetite. "Whoa, hold on there. I don't like where this conversation is headed. I don't want to be part of this!"
Of all the katanas Sasuke owned, Hakka was his favourite. It was a beautiful thin sword with an unusual red blade. Sasuke would surely go ballistic if he had any idea what they were up to. And Naruto would rather not end up as some discarded … bloody…heap.
"Relax." Kiba quickly cut in. "You still owe me a favour from that other time. Don't worry, it's not hard. I just want a… picture of it. Yeah. And the girls want one too, right?"
Ino and Sakura nodded enthusiastically.
"What a retarded reason! I don't remember this 'other time'! This is peer pressure! Neji, help me out here!"
Neji gave a curt nod and turned to the person beside him. "Hinata, don't go near Kiba. He's evil."
"WHAT!" cried both Kiba and Naruto.
"No!" yelled Naruto. "I'm not ready for another confrontation! Ask someone else!"
"Narutoooo!" Sakura slammed her hands on the table, causing the whole thing to collapse onto itself and taking Shikamaru with it. Her eyes flashed like a scary pair of laserbeams and everyone quickly backed off. "You better do it, or I will—!!!!"
---
A lithe figure silently hoisted himself up over the high perimeter fence and landed softly on the other side of the compound. Cautious eyes darted up, down and around for any traps before landing on his knees and hands, crawling through the damn bushy undergrowth and towards the living room.
He slide open the shouji door with relative ease. No one around, just as he predicted. He quickly made his way across the room, pressed himself against the wall and slid open another door. Eyes peered down the hallway. No sound. No light. No one.
Piece of cake, right?
It was just so fortunate (and unfortunate) that Naruto happened to know more or less the daily schedule of one Uchiha Sasuke. The damn prick was always busy with one thing or another. It made Naruto wonder for an instant if Sasuke was already drifting apart, or had been for a long time, moving on with his life and onto better things…
The faint rustle of leaves snapped him out of his thoughts and he found himself growing angry. As if he had time to think of that pointy stick! Once he had that blasted picture, he was out of here!
He stalked out of the room and crept down to the other end of the hallway. The little chest was located in his room, beneath that pile of dirtied clothing. Quite ingenious, actually. Who in their right minds would want to search in a hamper?
Ok, except for the fangirls.
He walked up to it and frowned. Really, he didn't want to do this. Invading someone's privacy was never quite his thing. But if Sakura-chan ever leaked out that it was he who sewed Neji's shirt to his pants so that it resembled Lee's green leotard one drunken night ago, Neji could quite possibly toss him back to Sasuke. Which would be bad. As in bad for his health and sanity.
Fucking hilarious though.
He snapped the photo and tossed the clothes back in. Ok, mission complete. He glanced at the drawer chest to his left but quickly jerked his head back. Mission complete, he stressed again. That means leaving and going home and eating ramen and crashing into bed and dreaming of cute pajama bottoms—
…oh come on, he was here already, wasn't he?
…plus nobody was here to judge him, right?
…and Sasuke wasn't here to kick his ass, see?
…so what exactly is the problem?
Ah, hell with it. And Naruto nearly smashed into the drawers, eager to get his grubby hands on a certain piece of clothing. He yanked the top drawer out, gave a delirious little giggle and began digging like a groundhog on steroids.
Wow, he thought when he pulled out a pink little washcloth. This'll make good blackmail. He tossed it to the ground. He'd worry about it later.
The drawer was deep and before long, he gave up and began to throw everything onto the floor, desperate to find what other prizes he could find.
It was like a game, a treasure hunt. There was a dark blue handkerchief with the little fan symbol at one corner, and a thin mesh shirt that Naruto had seen Sasuke wear once, and a worn cotton sock stuffed inside a brand new weapon pouch and… and—
"And exactly what are you doing"
Naruto stiffened and turned slowly around. He took in the stormy eyes, the clenched fists and finally, the familiar pair of faded navy drawstring pajamas that were just taunting him from afar.
Naruto said the only thing that came to mind.
"Gehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
-----to be continued
AN: wow, thanks for the reviews! I feel loved! And now, to deal with some issues that have come up (and to possibly find out how sadistic I am)...
Q) is Sasuke aware of his feelings?
A) I don't want to say anything yet. Does he go through some weird epiphany? Maybe. But then again, maybe he already has. Confused? I don't like to state things in my stories. I like to imply them. It gives me delicious delight to know how readers interpret my clues.
Q) This story format is weird. You suck.
A) well, sorry that it doesn't poke you in the ass right, but I want to try something new. What's wrong with trying something new?!
Q) Will you possibly ditch this story with the way you have done with your other story?
A) Maybe. It is possible. But I haven't ditched my other story yet. And duplex signal to too much fun to ditch... yet.