"So where are you taking me?!" he called out excitedly. I kept walking, going the same route every day.
"...Every day after art class, I go to a local café to meet with my...Relations."
"...You mean friends?" he corrected. I shuddered a little. I hated calling them that, like it was something everyone easily acquired with a simple 'Hi! Name, introduction, proposition'. Every person I've hung out with took major time and effort. Suigetsu took at least a month, and Karin, damn her, 3 years! And here he was...
Already at my side in a matter of hours.
"...Yeah," I replied hesitantly, "But don't...Freak out, or anything."
"Freak out? Why would I freak out? Are they insane? Because I would fit right in, you know."
I scoffed as he brought another long lost smirk to my lips. "No, they aren't crazy. Just...Yeah, they're fucked up. Don't mess with them, because they won't hesitate in ripping you a new one."
"Sounds like you're a fuckin' gang leader. I think I'll be okay with loonies."
I turned to him a little, glancing over his bright and tall form.
"...I think you don't have split personalities, you just have mood swings."
He punched at me, but I drifted to the left in a dodge. He growled at me.
"Shut up, you bastard! You make it sound like I'm pregnant or PMSing or something!"
"I don't know Naruto," I sighed, "When was your last visit to the gynecologist?"
And it was then that the game of cat and mouse began. I hadn't realized just how long his legs were as they stomped after me, or how dangerous those muscled tan arms looked as he readied some blows. I was undeniably thankful for my challenges with Lee. Without those laps and laps of running, and all those races with him, I doubt I could have kept from his furious grasp. I skidded around a corner, knocking down a trash can as I flew by, and gave a victorious laugh as he stumbled over it. He caught up quickly, though, and I feared for my life.
"...Ah...Stop RUNNING SO FAST!" he shouted at me, panting loud and dry to my ears. I smiled as I stepped it up a notch. I wasn't a track star for nothing. Thanks again, Lee.
After only 3 blocks, I dashed through the café doors, not even breaking the serene atmosphere as I scurried to our reserved table. Suigetsu's eyebrows had never been more arched.
"...Where's the fire, gorgeous?" he asked while looking out the window at the blonde stampeding his way toward the café. The albino eyed me strangely, a gaze that asked 'what the hell did you do?' I panted lightly and rubbed my forehead void of sweat.
"...Fresh meat," I answered, gesturing toward Ino, the waitress, for my usual order. She nodded and got to work. Unlike Sakura, Ino knew her limits to attraction, and quit her crush the moment I told her no, and only the first time. I respected her greatly for it.
"Fresh meat? Haven't had that in a while," he mumbled, watching as Naruto burst through and raced to my table. Before he could even shout out in defense, I pressed a finger to my lips. He closed his mouth, and I scooted over for him.
"You're being too noisy, stupid. Sit down." He opened his big mouth again and pointed a shaking finger, but slowly loosened as the restaurants ambiance took affect. He bit his lip and kept the finger pointed.
"I...Hate you," he whispered, crossing his arms and looking at the floor. His face was serious, so I felt a little guilty. I nudged him a little, but he didn't look up. I ignored the questioning eyes of the others and focused on Naruto.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of that. Just stop being insane, you're outdoing everyone else."
"Hey!" Suigetsu growled. I smirked, and Naruto looked up with a smile. I wanted to sigh in relief, but I held it.
"So...Introductions, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, staring at Suigetsu. Karin fixed her glasses and her cheeks pinked. I felt slightly nostalgic at that.
"That's Suigetsu," I told him. I would have gone on to introducing Karin, but Suigetsu was leaning over the table to Naruto, grin big and dangerous.
"...Scared?" he whispered huskily. Naruto began unfazed, that look that held no interest, but slowly, those big blue stars were widening in fear, personalities changing before my eyes.
"Suigetsu!" I cried, making him stop and turn to me. I furrowed my eyebrows and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "...Remember Juugo?"
His grin immediately disappeared and he slowly sat back down. Remembering was a bit painful to Suigetsu, but he had to protect Naruto from those jaws. Juugo was my last fresh meat. I had met him in one of my classes, and decided to take him to the café after a few weeks. I realized then that he and Suigetsu wouldn't mix. I hadn't known about Juugo's criminal record, or his mental condition, until long after the incident. I hadn't warned Juugo of Suigetsu's biting beforehand, and Suigetsu didn't even hesitate in 'greeting' the young man. Juugo, of course, then went into a violent rampage after Suigetsu, much to the displeasure of the overly-dehydrated albino. Juugo would immediately go into attack mode, subconsciously, and go about destroying anything in his visage. Eventually, he got kicked out of school and sent to a loony bin for anger management. Suigetsu feels he's to blame, and it's true, if only partially. It was really my fault for putting the two together.
"...So what can I get you, handsome?" Ino cooed as she slid my mocha latte over to me and stared at Naruto. He looked a little confused as to why she was talking to him, and as cute as she was, he didn't seem interested in the least.
"...He'll just have water," I answered for him. Ino nodded and slinked away to quickly return with Naruto's order. He took a long swig and I nudged him to release tension, gesturing to Karin.
"As I was saying, this is Karin." The said girl waved a little and her cheeks flushed. I winced a little. Was I that easy to forget, over this guy she's barely even met?
"...Guys, this is Naruto," I finished, poking at my latte with a stirring straw before taking a sip. The caffeine addiction was something I caught from my brother. The only thing in the house to drink was coffee, so I had to live with it. Eventually, it became a need, something I couldn't escape from. The sweet cocoa colored liquid unwound me in ways nothing else could. I sighed as I guzzled half of it. Suigetsu smirked.
"Feel better?" he asked. I nodded lowly, hand finding its way to my hair. Naruto watched me closely.
"I don't really like coffee. Jiraiya says it makes me too energetic," he said. I slowly looked him over, my calm demeanor getting to me.
"...Jiraiya?" I repeated. He gave me a surprised look before gulping his water down.
"My...Grandfather," he told me, "He's my parental guardian."
"So where are your parents?" Suigetsu shamelessly called out. Naruto smiled a small sad smile, and I knew we'd taken it too far.
"...Gone," he said. We didn't ask him again.
The rest of the conversation quickly lost the tension, and Naruto became active again. I would add myself in every once in a while, but it was Naruto who did most of the talking. He'd explain what he liked most about school, what classes he was taking, nothing of major interest. But Suigetsu would chime in about his classes and his teachers, and after that, his favorite places to go, his drug sprees, running from the police a few times, the things I had heard hundreds of times. But Naruto seemed interested. Karin, of course, was too interested in Naruto.
The conversation gave me a chance to take in my surroundings, something I hadn't done in years. To just sit there and look at what you had going for you was something I wish I could do every day. I could look at these people and see something I couldn't usually see...Or, maybe it was the coffee talking.
But there was the one who looked different. He wasn't like the other two, relations. He held more than that, I could tell. And when he turned to me, to look at me with those eyes that were going off like fireworks, and to smile at me like that, I felt myself smile along with him, just to acknowledge the attention.
...Naruto.
"...Right, Sasuke?" he asked. I smiled and nodded, my elbow propped against the table to hold my head up in a palm. I must have been staring, because he gave a chuckle and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you alright, Sasuke?" He shook a hand in front of my eyes, but I was too far lost. I slowly let my head slip, and next thing I knew, I had face planted into the marble tabletop. I heard Naruto give out a strange cry, and a laughing Suigetsu in the background.
"Oh my God, is he okay?" My betraying ears heard Naruto ask. Suigetsu gave a reply, and I drifted out entirely.
"...Yeah. Actually, he did better than last time."
---
"Tick tock, tick tock."
"...Tell that clock to shut its motherfucking mouth."
"Tick...Tock!"
"What did I just tell you?"
"To shut the clock up...Tick."
"So you think I didn't mean it?"
"Tick tock...Well, can't help you much, little brother. Tick..."
I felt a tug at my ear.
"TOCK!"
I flew off the bed in a fit of sheets, hitting my head with a crack on the hardwood floor. I looked up at Itachi, who was shaking his coffee mug upside down, as if he did it enough, more coffee would appear.
"...I like using that one against you," he said, glancing down at me. I lifted myself to my knees slowly, holding my throbbing head.
"...How'd I get here?" I asked as I stood on wobbly legs. Itachi smiled sinisterly and bent down to pick up my sheets.
"You rode the Gorgeous Blonde Express, I believe. Damn, do I want tickets."
"...Naruto?" I tried to clear, still holding my head as a twinge blasted through it. Itachi grinned and threw the sheets on lazily.
"I didn't ask his name, he was too sexy for me to form words. But Suigetsu told me you passed out at the café again and Blondie freaked, so he carried you here on his back. I'm a bit jealous, little brother." I rolled my eyes, walking to my closet to pull on clean clothes.
"Kisame would cry if he heard you say that," I told him. Itachi pouted in reply.
"Of course he would, the poor baby. He'd want some of Blondie too."
That's all I heard of him after I began to throw every sharp object I had in my possession at him.
---
I realized the next day that I didn't have any classes with the blonde. Then, I realized I hadn't asked the blonde just how old he was, either. The homeroom went on longer than I thought it usually did, Kakashi looking cheerful for once. I asked him, with little actual concern or interest, and he explained to me about the history teacher he had a date with the next day. When he began to go into detail of his dark skin and chocolate hair, or the things he would do with them, I quickly fled to the halls.
And it was there that I was swept up by the masses for only a moment. It took their routine minds to realize Sasuke Uchiha had entered the vicinity, and they cleared a path to wherever I stepped. I looked past the awestruck faces of nobodies, squinting to find that vibrant hair.
It bobbed its way through the crowds, in a way resembling a gopher or prairie dog, and dashed towards me.
"Naruto," I called out in his direction, and immediately his own path cleared. He looked around nervously, but quickly came to my side.
"Popularity has its perks," I soothed, his jitters not residing, "There's nothing to freak over."
"Yeah right, jerk! Like at the fucking café?" I smiled.
"Oh yeah...I remember something my brother said about you...Umm...Let me see...Oh yeah. He issued you a gynecology appointment, you pussy."
I barely dodged the punch aimed for my face, his thumbnail nicking my cheek. Everyone around us, of course, either screamed in protest or encouraged the steaming Naruto.
Not good.
Before the masses of students could close in for a death match circle, I grabbed the feisty blonde and dragged him hurriedly down a corridor, to where I wasn't sure. It was empty, but I was sure everyone would find us. I shoved him against a wall and stared him down in a glaring contest. Before I could even bitch him out for starting a fight in front of the whole school, he opened his big fat mouth.
"-Says the guy who passes out after a cup of coffee!"
I rolled my eyes and shoved him a little harsher.
"You got your crazy little brain problem? Well I got a crazy little habit problem," I growled. He scoffed.
"Sure you just don't have low blood pressure? Looks like it." One more shove.
"I don't know what it is, so let it go! I do it all the time!"
"Wouldn't you at least suspect a health problem?"
"Since when does it matter?" I shouted. He didn't answer, and that horrid look of defeat crossed his face, and I knew I was just being angry for the hell of it. I hissed out a sigh.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," I consoled as he looked to the floor, "I was just mad for you starting up a brawl right in the middle of school. I won't ever get them off me now."
"...You're bleeding, you know," he informed me, swiping at the crimson and showing it on the tip of his finger. I blinked at it and touched my cheek, feeling where his sharper-than-normal fingernail had apparently sliced me up. I watched him stare at his blood covered finger with a dangerous curiosity.
Those weren't the sapphire eyes I had come to know.
Red as the blood on his finger, opposite of the cool azure, was staining his pupils. It could have just been a trick of the eye, because when I blinked, they were that strange wide blue eyes still examining every feature of the blood.
"...Naruto," I called out. He didn't answer, didn't acknowledge, and just kept on staring, like it was the most important thing in the world.
I rethought the eyes as we switched positions, my narrow shoulders pressed sharply to the plaster wall. He was watching me like I was a piece of meat; but not like a hot guy he could have sex with. It was like I really was a piece of meat: For him to eat. He grinned hysterically and held me tight, crushing me under his reddened gaze.
He leaned down to lick the blood from my cheek, and I couldn't even withhold the horrified shudder coursing through my body. His tongue was rough, like a cat's, and it was painful against the small wound. I held my breath as he slathered it in his saliva, his fingers digging deep into my arms in case I was to escape.
Never had I been so dominated, helpless, scared, or aroused, and all at once. I could feel my legs shaking from under me, and if it weren't for his big strong hands, I would have fallen to my knees. The feeling was overpowering, and it wasn't even a real kiss. It was more like an animal greeting, except Naruto was no animal, and this wasn't how humans greeted each other. I dared open my eyes, to when I had closed them I couldn't remember, and red eyes hit me full force. They were deranged, half-lidded in cockiness or arousal, and never-ending. Slowly being drawn into them, I could hear a hearty murmur of a chuckle from deep in his throat and could no longer recognize the teenager in front of me. This was the other personality entirely.
I nearly cried out as his mouth left my cut to slide lower, first lapping at my earlobe, then sucking on my jugular, like if he sucked hard enough, all my blood would burst out of it. He dove to my collar and bit it harshly, and my legs convulsed and lightly kicked his shin accidentally. It was enough to snap him out of it, because he suddenly stopped mid-bite to stare at me with wide blue eyes. He looked around, then at me again, letting go of my shoulders shakily.
"I...! I'm so...Oh God!" He whispered to himself, sharp fingernails cutting at his hands again. I would have grabbed them to make him stop, but he was already taking a mad dash out of the corridor. Once I realized he was gone, my knees buckled and I dropped down on my ass. I was still shaken, literally, and I cursed at my legs for them to work again. I sighed a small sigh and ruffled my hair, realizing just how tight these pants were.
Life just got a little interesting.
---
I stared at that empty easel. It was bare, and unenergetic, and lifeless.
I sat upon my stool, turned to that easel longingly, and glared at it. Kakashi liked the pose; Said I looked thoughtful. But I was just sitting there, staring for all its worth.
Empty.
I didn't want to frown and ruin the detail. But I wanted to really bad. Where was that blonde idiot? Kakashi had told me how bad he had wanted to join the class, how he had even dropped to his knees and begged. And now he was skipping on the second day.
I knew it was because of earlier. He looked ready to explode. He probably skipped the rest of school after that too, knowing him. He wasn't one to let things go.
I sighed through slightly parted lips, closing my eyes for a few choice seconds, only to resume the unneeded glare at something that didn't deserve it.
That was all I could think about the rest of the day. If he was okay, if he was scared, if he thought I was the one scared, if he was worried I would hate him, if he wasn't hurting himself. I knew he would be, and I had the unbearable urge to go to his house and call him out. But realizing I had no idea where he lived, I quickly lost track of all thoughts. Damn it all!
I worried. And one could never ever even hope of getting that from me. But I was; I worried for that big stupid oaf. All the stupid things he could be doing...
I stomped on the concrete as I walked to the café. I was trying not to think of the blonde as I burst through the door angrily and plopped down in my usual seat. Suigetsu and Karin said nothing, only stared at me. I jerked a hand at Ino, who scurried away faster than usual, if possible. Suigetsu opened his mouth to say something, but I had already bashed my head on the marble. I felt like my skull had cracked in half, but I couldn't care.
"...Remind me why I try to have friends," I whispered. Suigetsu ruffled the back of my hair and chuckled.
"Can't say I even know myself," he answered. Karin hummed.
"Because it's expected of you?"
"Sasuke," Ino called softly, informing me of my drink. I turned my face on the cold marble to look at her confused face.
"...Get me two more, please, Ino," I commanded. Her mouth hung open as she stared at me. Usually, one got me out. But today I could live a little...Or stop living. Either worked. She dashed for it, knowing I'd only ask for it in bad moods.
"Whoa, Sasuke! Going to be so hurting in the morning!" Suigetsu sputtered from around his water bottle. I shook my head a little against the marble: My forehead would be bruised tomorrow.
"...Whatever."
As the cups were placed before me, and a scared expression shone down from Ino's face, I began my self-abuse.
"Suigetsu...Take me home, alright?" I said around the coffee. Suigetsu shrugged and his fine eyebrows furrowed.
"Alright, Gorgeous. But before you go, I just hope whatever's bothering you is patched up quick. Feel better, yeah?"
I nodded lightly, glancing at Karin who stared wordlessly with worried eyes.
"Don't worry, Karin. Everything's good," I consoled quietly. She curtly nodded, fixing her glasses with shaky hands.
I gulped down the scalding liquid, not caring for the temperature, and savored it for only a moment as I went to the second. Suigetsu hummed a comforting laugh and leaned across the table to stroke the side of my head softly, lulling me into dizziness. Half way through my third, trying to stay conscious long enough to drink it,
I looked up at my friends.
His fingers curled in my ebony hair and pulled lightly, slowly letting my head tilt into his hand as I began to lose it, laying it to one side. I closed my eyes, and sighed into his pale hand, vibrating from his words.
"...Sweet dreams, Gorgeous."