Argh. I wrote the third to last chapter today. It was...well, you'll see in the future.
Right now it's time to read and enjoy!
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"Naruto, quit it!"
The plant merely grinned his big teeth, continuing his onslaught on the poor human.
Another fit of irritated laughter came up, "Argh, dobe, I'm going to chop you up for this..!" He complained as the light green vine, which had slowly replaced the black color of Naruto's body over the days, was currently wriggling against him didn't cease its tickling.
"Sasuke shouldn't say mean things like that. Naruto is only having fun!" The other replied, reluctantly letting the man go and seemed to pout by letting his body slump.
That only earned him a glare. "I don't like being tickled, ok? How would you like if.." He blinked, "Wait. Can plants even be ticklish?"
The plant tilted his head. "Naruto does not know," he answered, flicking one of his vines. "Where are Naruto's fishcakes?"
The Uchiha's eye twitch a bit. "They were out of fishcakes today," he started, walking over to the bag he brought in this morning. At the plants horrified gasp, he chuckled and glanced over. "Besides, I don't want you to get fat."
"Naruto is not fat..." A sneaky tendril came up and poked the dark haired boy's forehead. "What is for lunch then?"
"Well..." Sasuke held up what looked like two brightly labeled bowls. "I brought some extra ramen...I've got to go cook them though, so I'll be back in a few minutes," he said, leaving the room quietly, leaving the plant to hum to himself and tap his vines lightly against the table as he waited, smiling to himself.
Naruto wondered...if he could live with Sasuke forever. He liked the human, a lot. The way he talked, the way his hair stood up in the back, even those dark eyes. He liked the way the man's nose would wrinkle when he was annoyed, or how sometimes he'd give him a small smile that made his vines tingly all over the place.
Naruto blushed a bit, the shade hardly noticeable to human eyes. Tilting his head down, he sighed quietly, wondering what it would be like if they were the same species. It's not like they could love each other now, right? Humans loves humans, it was as simple as that.
His thoughts were interrupted as the door opened, signaling his owner's return. He tried to calm down, muttering a "Welcome back Sasuke," as he glanced up at the dark haired figure to smile.
Well, he was expecting a dark haired figure, but not these two. He froze, unable to move as the strangers regarded him with surprised faces. The one with longer hair reacted quickly and shoved them both inside, closing the door behind him.
"Shit..what the hell Sasuke.." The man had muttered, glancing over at the other, shorter haired man and then back at the tall creature.
Naruto thought about hiding, but it'd be pointless anyways. Though he wasn't sure what to say. Fortunately, his owner had decided to pop in to the fun as well.
"Im back Narut-"
He suddenly noticed that the other two were in his room. And Naruto was...not hiding? "Itachi...do you not bother knocking?" He finally spoke, glaring quietly at the two.
His older brother decided to ignore that. "Sasuke, why didn't you tell me about this?"
"Well, its kind of hard to explain to your brother that his plant can move and talk," he replied with quiet fury.
The male that hadn't spoke yet decided to put in his two cents. "Really, Sasuke..did you expect to hide this...thing away from everyone else?"
The plant flinched at the term 'thing', but he thought it'd be best to stay out of this.
"First off, it's a he. Secondly, I didn't realize that I had to show off my projects to everyone in the damn building, Sai."
"Alright," Itachi decided to cut in, not wanting the to bicker. "Sasuke, that's enough. For your sake, I'm not going to say anything about this. As for you Sai, I expect you to keep your mouth shut as well."
'Sai' said nothing, only snorted as he walked around them and shook his head. "Can't make any promises," he spoke cheerfully, ignoring the angry protests from Sasuke as he closed the door behind him.
"Damnit, out of all the people who have to know, Sai is the one," he grumbled, glaring over at his older brother. "He's not going to keep his mouth shut."
"I am aware." The older male turned himself towards the plant now, walking over to it. "I can't believe you've been hiding this thing all this time, " he said, amused when the plant shied away, closing itself off slightly.
Surprisingly, it was the plant who spoke next. "Naruto..is not a thing," he spoke quietly, looking away and feeling a bit nervous.
The elder Uchiha raised a brow. "Naruto? Is that what you named him?" he asked to the moody figure now behind him.
"...he likes fishcakes."
Shaking his head, Itachi just walked away towards the door. "Sasuke, I'll try to make sure Sai doesn't do anything rash. But maybe next time you should lock the door when you're gone." With that he left, leaving the two of them alone.
Naruto watched the man set down their bowls of ramen, sighing and running his hands through his hair. He decided to explain himself. "Naruto is sorry...Naruto didn't-"
"It's alright," The raven cut him off, glancing over. "It's...it's fine. Let's just eat."
And they did eat their noodles, but for the first time, it was in an uncomfortable silence.
--
Sasuke was yelling.
The creature couldn't make out what the two were saying outside, but he could tell that his owner was...angry at the least. He knew this by instinct, but it was hard to believe since the human was always so calm and never aggravated to such a degree. Annoyance, yes. Irritatation, yes. But full blown anger? It was only just a few minutes ago that Naruto, trying to lighten up the mood that had been casted from the other day's incident, had been complaining about how he needed a new pot; he was still growing as persistently as ever, and it was getting cramped a bit. But, he had sensed someone coming, and so he hid himself away just as the door opened.
Itachi had come in, looking solemn.
The plant stayed to his hiding place anyways, and just watched and laid still as the figure walked over to Sasuke and murmured something. He couldn't tell what it was, but the look Sasuke gave the taller man told Naruto it wasn't good. With a sharp look over, the botanist insisted they went outside to talk. And now he laid there in hiding, wondering what they were arguing about. He was too curious for his own good, he supposed.
After what seemed like hours, the raven haired male came back in, looking very upset and pacing around the room, muttering to himself, not seeming to notice his companion slowly lift up his head after realizing the coast was clear.
"What is wrong, Sasuke?" The plant asked him quietly, not wanting to upset the scientist even more.
With a jerky glance, he snapped out of his thoughts. Quietly he approached Naruto and stared blankly at the floor, not sure how to say what his brother had just told him.
"Itachi...he said that, Sai called some higher ups and told them about you. They're...they said tomorrow they're coming in to take you and turn you over to government investigation." Sasuke slumped against the table, burying his face in his hands. "You're...leaving, and not coming back."
The dark news left an uneasy silence as Naruto absorbed the words and thought them over carefully. He didn't want to leave...but, it sounded like there was no choice. They were going to take him away. But...that couldn't happen.
"It will be ok, Sasuke.." the plant murmured, placing a vine on the human's shoulder in a comforting way, hoping to cheer up his owner. He was surprised when it was pulled into the human's lap and held onto, as if hugging onto it and never wanting to let go. Feeling it'd be better not to ask about it, he didn't respond or pull away, simply staring at the floor miserably as their silence dragged on.
After a while, when it started to become dark, and it was almost lock-up time, Naruto gently shook the man's shoulder with a free tendril and spoke quietly, "Sasuke needs rest."
Sasuke didn't reply, he just got up and went to go put away his papers, not bothering to look over them. And he didn't say anything else when he left the room and locked up for the night. He couldn't say anything, because there was nothing to say.
The plant stared at the door, for a long time. Thinking about Sasuke. Thinking about how he was used to sitting in the dark and watching 'I Love Lucy' all night. Thinking about all the fishcakes he ever ate and how the ramen he had ate that afternoon was really good.
Would his new home let him have ramen or fishcakes...?
He sighed quietly, staring up at the moon through the window above. What can Naruto do...?
--
Sasuke decided to come into work a bit early.
He didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. How could he? The amazing plant he had been spending almost two months with was now going to be taken away from him. All because that damn Sai leaked it to the fucking government. Hell, even Itachi couldn't do anything about that.
He sighed wearily, getting out of the car and glancing up at the tall building. If they brought Naruto out this way, he could at least see the outside world finally...before they...
Shaking his head, he swiped his card key since it was too early for open doors. Going inside, he barely gave a glance to the pink haired girl who was busy putting on her make-up for the day.
"Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" was all she said, and thank god for that.
He didn't bother with coffee, or checking if he had mail. He went straight up to his room, where Naruto would be waiting for someone to come in. He knew for a fact that the plant didn't sleep. He must get lonely, the raven thought absentmindedly, stopping at his door. Letting out a breath and digging out his key, opening the door and ready to do nothing but say goodbye until the agents came to take him away at ten. Turning on the lights, he glanced around the room, immediately taking in the sudden change with a painful lurch in his stomach.
Naruto wasn't there.
--TBC--
Oh noes! Where is Naruto? Well, R/R and find out next week!
