Hello! Well I'm very excited that you are all still reading this (which I wasn't sure you would to be honest) and I'm even happier with all the nice reviews I got! Since I was mean and kind of rushed things last time, I promised I'd make this one nice and fluffy! So here you are! Let's do my thank-yous. First I wanna say thanks to Chiru-lili for my first review! Haha the chair thing was funny. And you'll be able to see if your prediction was correct in this chapter! Now for the rest of you! Norway22 (haha I bet it was fun even if you didn't have two not-knowning-gay guys!), xMissxPepperx (haha well I'm glad that I make them seem like real people, because I want you to think of them as true people instead of just characters), XSasuXNaruXForeverX (I proooomise there will be a lemon in the story, just got to wait for the right moment! But I'm guessing you'll like the end of this), Wopsidaisy (haha that's fine, don't push yourself to read the chapter if you wanna sleep! And thank you for the review), ISpeakSquirrelSqeak (haha but teasing makes the story better in the end and you know it =P), jeeniebeenie (Shikamaru is just too smart for his own good…well, that and he's lazy and doesn't wanna get involved =P), miskie27 (what can I say, I like boys in beds together! And yet, all the sexy stuff never happens in the beds…I'm just weird),sakurananachan (haha well of course Sasuke is hiding something… its Sasuke! And I love answering your reviews, you are the people that I'm writing for! And if you put the effort into reviewing, I'll put the effort into answering!), Lydia-chan (haha you'd like if he did it on purpose! Sasuke without being emo is just…not Sasuke…-sighs- poor misguided kid), DisgruntledMinion (Kakashi just makes everything so funny, especially when he messes up sweet moments with Sasuke and Naruto and then makes them awkward!), blue-nuriel (Well Sasuke is the one that has self control, so he can't just steal Naruto away…although that'd be funny), Searafina (haha you people are mean, enjoying the sexual tension….even though I write it….-grins-), Chiaki Megumi (well I'l glad that I have you wanting more! If I didn't, then I'd be a bad writer now wouldn't I?), Itooshii Koneko (I love your long reviews! Blah that does sound boring, I feel bad for you…so here you go! A lovely dose of SasuNaru ordered by Nurse Niki! Haha I hope that you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed your review), Deathangelebz (haha the boys sure have a nice smell together…hmm, guess I can girl you some SasuNaru action –winks-), Akiru chan (Don't worry about the art stuff, I actually found out some of that through the internet and was like 'wow, so cool, add it to SasuNaru!' and yes, Kakashi is plain old evil…but we love him! Haha and thanks so much for the long reviews, I always get excited when I see yours!), Ai Enmaxjigoku shoujo (Wow it's been a while! And yea, I remember you =P thanks for the sweet review, oh gosh, you're the bike man! Well I guess I'd be too since I'm the one getting them together and all haha! And I hope you like this chapter), all-the-good-ones-get-impaled (I really meant to comment on your review before, but when my comments all got erased I was just like 'blah!!!!' so sorry! I love the name, and I'm happy that you enjoy the story!), Exorcist-Miranda (Yea I know, I didn't realize that it was drawn by someone else at first! And I can't tell you the answer to your question till the last chapter! Hee hee), XxFirexDance (-blushes- aw thank you very much…yea, I try to make it not bad because I don't want to turn people away or ruin the characters! Thank you for the compliment, I'm glad you think I'm good), Black-sky-loves-me (yay for being ominous! Haha I'm hoping that I'm meeting your expectation with this chapter), Kazanrai (haha you wish! Not yet, but there is a some sweet sweet SasuNaru), asdf (haha I'm happy that you liked it! And yea, sometimes the most obvious things to everyone else is like, a complete mystery to yourself!), kat10788 (have I ever told you I get happy seeing your reviews? Haha! I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter, and sorry bout the cliffhanger…but it was just too evil of a chance to pass up! I make up for it in this chapter, I promise =P), Kimi333 (Well I'm happy that you are guessing the story because it makes me feel like I'm doing a good job! Hope that you enjoy this chapter too), a rather slytherin griffindor (eh, the whole unconscious thing makes the inner chibi Sasuke come out….and I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter, because theres more where that came from!), zerofangirl (I was so happy when I saw your review I squealed and was late for school haha! And yes, we're starting to head toward the end, so grab onto to something solid and get ready for the ride!), mockup (They way you describe it sounds like I have a cooking show or something! Sasuke probably did molest him in his sleep, knowing how he is…not that we really mind =P), and pebbles of the sand (Well I'm hoping that this chapter surpasses my last one! Haha otherwise I'm going to be sad…!)
And now for the chapter! Here ya go!
Warning: -sings-I love SasuNaru, oh yes I doooo, I love SasuNaru, and you better tooooo….or else don't read!!!!!! -foams at the mouth-
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…I do own this seductive chapter though! -Grins-
Awakening Feelings in Assisi
The morning after Vatican City, Iruka had told us to pack everything we had in order to move to our next hotel. Well, after he finished freaking out over the broken bed. Really we just needed a couple more hands to put it back together --like I said the night before, that stupid teme-- and it was brand new. Still, Iruka needed to scold me for treating the hotel room like a playground. Yea right, if it were a playground I could hang from the chandeliers or something!
That suggestion got me another ten minutes of scolding.
"Iruka-sensei, how far away is Florence?" Sakura had asked after the bus started to move. The morning sun was just starting to really shine as the bus members dozed between sleep and consciousness. Sure we had been able to sleep in later than most days, but 9am was still a struggle for a bunch of high school kids.
"It only takes about two and a half to three hours to get to Florence. However, we are going to be spending the day at the city of Assisi, which rests between here and Florence. It's about a two hour drive from here. You'll be able to explore the small town on your own, and then we'll drive to Florence for our dinner reservation," Iruka explained with a smile. That smile soon turned into a yelp for some reason that I decided was none of my business when he glared over to his seat partner, A.K.A, the pervert. Kakashi simply smiled at the flustered look and waved to us from the front seat.
"You kids can go off and romance each other without our supervision."
"Kakashi!" Iruka snapped, glancing like a mother hen at all of us when we started to laugh. Finally Kakashi stood, shrugging his arm onto Iruka's shoulder and pulling him into an embrace that instantly heated the younger counselor's face.
"And if you have any problems, make sure to bother Gai-sensei or Kurenai-sensei. You won't like the consequences of coming near me." Suddenly the bus fell silent, and I almost snickered at how terrified most of the kids were. Everyone knew that the pervert was skilled in several types of fighting such as karate, kendo, taekwondo, and judo. Even Neji and Lee would get their asses handed to them by him. Hell the only one that ever tried to fight with him was Gai-sensei, who had some weird one-sided rivalry, but Kakashi hardly even noticed when he was talking. Really, people like him should not be trained physically.
"You're not supposed to scare the kids!" Iruka hit Kakashi's shoulder while the proctor brought them to sit. I could tell from the quiet whispering around the bus that people were still too scared from the creepy look Kakashi gave to even speak normally. Seriously, he got off on making people uncomfortable.
"Your proctor scares me." I looked back at Ino and Hinata, who both seemed to pale from the threat. I laughed and tried to calm my friends.
"He's just a pervert, don't worry about him," I said, rolling my eyes. When they continued to look at Kakashi as if he'd sprout three heads and eat them, I sighed. "Come on, he's harmless."
"He's a lot stronger than you, idiot." I glared at the asshole next to me for two reasons. One, because he made the girls squeak in fear and smack closer to the seat, and two because he butted into another one of my conversations. If he wasn't going to say something nice, he should have just kept his big mouth shut!
"You should make hallmark cards with that kind of attitude." He rolled his eyes at my glare and continued to sketch whatever he was drawing. I watched his fingers glide along the page for a few seconds before I realized how creepy that was. Turning back to the girls to make sure that they didn't pass out from fear (I was mainly concerned about Hinata), I stopped when a familiar scene was played out in front of me. Sakura sat in the middle of the girls, a new magazine sitting in her hands. It was called Seventeen or something like that. "Hey!"
"What?" Sakura peered over the top of the magazine to look at me.
"What 'cha reading?"
"T-The Tibetan personality test. They take c-certain words and objects and…and translate them to see in-into your mind." Instantly my interest perked at Hinata's explanation.
"I wanna take it!" I whined out, getting a long sigh from Sakura.
"You don't even have any paper. How are you going to remember your answers?"
"Uh…" I glanced over to Sasuke quickly, grinning down at the notebook. "Teme!"
"Dobe." I ignored the insult and waited until he slowly looked up at me to speak.
"Hey hey…let me have a pencil and a piece of paper. I wanna take a test!" I got an arched eyebrow in response.
"I highly doubt that you came on this trip to take a test. You fail enough at home."
"Not that kind of test!" It then took me a minute to realize what he said. "Hey! I'll have you know all of my tests proudly say D on them! Like I'll let an F ruin my perfect record."
"You are an idiot." But I didn't care what he said while he flipped the drawing he was making in order to pull out a piece of paper. It was probably to shut me up. I eagerly snatched the paper and pencil from him before turning back to the girls and smiling.
"Alright! Let's do this!" Sakura laughed at my enthusiasm before she looked back to the page she was on.
"Fine fine, I guess it won't hurt. Okay, the first question involves animals. Place these five animals in order of preference: horse, cow, pig, sheep, and tiger." I blinked slowly before I looked down at my paper. Easily I threw down tiger, since they kicked ass. I put pig as last, because they smelt gross and really were pretty worthless. Well, besides for bacon…gah, getting off subject. I focused on the last three, wondering what any of this had to do with me. Well sheep were useful because of their meat and fur, so I guess they were high up on the list. I thought about horses and shivered. The last time I got near a horse, it tried to bit my friggen finger off! Alright, no horse for me. I ended up putting tiger, sheep, cow, horse, and then pig for the final set up.
"Done," I said, glancing up at the girls and smiling. Sakura nodded before her eyes shifted to my side, and slowly I followed her gaze to see that Sasuke was leaning his back against the window, writing down something. And yea, even an idiot like me could figure it out. "You're doing it too!?"
"Hn."
"You ready for the next one?" Sasuke nodded at Sakura's question, and I begrudgingly looked back to her when she spoke. "Alright, the next question involves objects. What you have to do is write down one adjective to describe each of these things I'm going to say. The five words are dog, cat, rat, coffee, and ocean."
I shrugged and answered with playful first. Dogs were always running around and getting into stuff, and they always seemed to have a smile on. My parents used to tell me it was because dogs were never sad, though I doubted it. Even if they smiled, it didn't mean that they were always happy. I moved to the next one and scrunched my nose. Cats were stuck-up, and I put that down as my answer. Unlike dogs, they were independent and completely snobby. They acted like they didn't lick their own asses every day. They could be useful at times, especially when they curled up on your lap and kept you warm or something. But still, most of the time they were just a pain in the ass.
Rats were nasty. I remembered Kakashi saying something about how rats held tons of viruses that could kill humans or at least make them very sick. They hung out in sewers and were perfectly fine in making their homes at dumps. Plus they had those big eyes that creeped the hell out of me. So in the end, I put freaky for my answer. What was next? Oh, coffee. Man that stuff was bitter. But I knew it was more of an energizer than a leisure drink. People only shoved the stuff down when they were in need of caffeine or they wanted to stay awake. So energetic seemed like a good word to me. The last one was ocean, which came as a no brainer to me…not to say I didn't have a brain! Because, no matter what the teme says, I have one, and I'm not afraid to use it. Like for the test, where I put a big ass word for ocean. Unpredictable. That was like...five syllables!
"Are you done daydreaming?" I jumped and glanced to Sasuke, jerking my head back a bit when I noticed how close our faces had gotten. Laughing weakly to hide my nerves, I looked back to Sakura and nodded.
"Sorry! Just uh…thinking."
"There's a first."
"Nobody asked you teme!"
"Boys…" Sakura waited until we sent a few more glares before she continued. "This is the last part, so listen carefully. All you have to do is write down someone's name when you hear the colors. The only rule is that you have to know the person."
"How do colors tell you anything?" I asked, smiling quickly when Ino sent me a glare.
"Do you want to take the test or not?"
"Course I do!"
"Then don't question it." I grumbled about 'pushy girls' before I looked back down at my paper, listening to Sakura's voice.
"The five colors are yellow, orange, green, white, and red." Well some of them were easy. Yellow made me think of Ino because she was blonde. Well, that and she was always hyper like me. And since Shikamaru's favorite color was green, it made me put him down. If I could use myself, I'd definitely put orange as my color, but since I couldn't, I put Sakura. Only certain people were able to pull off orange, and Sakura was one of them. Not as good as me, but I guess it was alright for the test. I stared at red and white, the last two colors I had to choose. Well, Kiba had a thing for red, but he wore white more often, and his dog Akamaru was white too. Not to mention red just made me think of Sasuke, probably because red could be associated with anger and bad feelings. So in the end, I chose Kiba as white, and the bastard as red.
"Finished!" I shouted, instantly wincing when I realized the others were still sleeping. Glancing around, the only sign I got that any of them heard me was a slight snore from Kiba. Stupid mutt.
"So you guys ready to hear your results?" I nodded happily at Sakura's question, and I didn't really care if Sasuke was okay with going forward or not. Let's see how well this test knew Uzumaki Naruto. "So we'll start with number one. According to the test, the order that you placed the animals in shows the organization of your priorities in life. The cow signifies career, the horse signifies family, the tiger signifies pride, the pig signifies money, and the sheep signifies love."
"So then…mine goes pride, love…uh, what's the cow again?" I asked.
"Ca-Career." I nodded at Hinata's answer.
"Right, so pride, love, career…then family and money? Ha! I don't need money to be happy. I just need my pride and some good loving!"
"Idiot." I heard Sasuke scoff next to me, and I glared over to him.
"You probably had the sheep as your last one you cold hearted bastard." He smirked a bit before speaking.
"Third, dobe."
"Whatever, like you really need it. All you have to do is look at a girl and she 'falls in love'." I looked back at my list, skimming my fingers over the answers. If love was so important to me, why wasn't I looking for a girlfriend? Actually, I hadn't bothered to date anyone since my deep infatuation with Sakura. My brows furrowed at the thought. So then if I didn't even look at girls, how come I got the sheep for the second one? And why did Sasuke have it as third anyways? Why didn't he have it as last? The kid practically ran away from every girl that came too close to him. He could have a girlfriend any time he wanted, and yet he didn't. Quickly I wiped the smile away from my lips at the thought. What the hell?! Why would that make me upset? Okay, definitely didn't want to think about it anymore.
"What's the next part?" I asked, keeping my eyes away from Sasuke and up toward the girls. Ino blinked before leaning over Sakura's shoulder to read.
"It says here that in describing these words implies certain parts of your life. The dog shows something about your own personality." I looked down at my answer and laughed.
"I'm playful? Well, I guess that's what you could call all my pranks, eh?" Sakura shook her head, trying to pretend her smile wasn't caused by me.
"What about you Sasuke?" I bet he shrugged. I say bet because I wasn't going to look over to him while my conscious continued to pester me about the sheep.
"Fast." Well, that was true. Sasuke was pretty quick. I nodded to myself as if accepting his answer before moving on.
"What about the cat? I put stuck-up." Sakura and Ino both seemed to giggle at my answer, while Hinata blushed. I blinked once when her eyes shifted between me and Sasuke. "What's wrong Hinata?"
"O-oh! Nothing I…" She blushed deeper and glanced to the page, her voice speeding through the explanation."The ca-cat shows something a-about…about the person's pa-partner!"
"Hn." My reflexes caused me to glance to Sasuke, instantly regretting it when I caught his gaze with mine. He held it for a second, and I swallowed to moisten my suddenly dry throat. How did one look do that to me? I knew it wasn't fear, because I would never be scared of someone as weak as the teme. It was something else…But I didn't have much time to think when he looked back down at his paper. "I put lazy."
"Lazy?! What the hell!" I pointed a finger to Sasuke as I shouted, not caring if the rest of the bus woke up. They all slept too much anyways. "That's not even true and you know it!"
"What are you talking about Naruto? Cats are wicked lazy." Ino's voice suddenly made me realize what I was shouting about. We were just talking about a cat. A cat that had something to do with whoever Sasuke was going to end up with, and nothing to do with Uzumaki Naruto. So why the hell did I think he was insulting me?! Even though he had smirked, that didn't mean anything. He always smirked, it wasn't a sign he was thinking about me. Why would I want him to anyways? He was Sasuke! I had to stop the occasional skip of my heartbeat when I thought about it.
"Uh…well I like cats!"
"But you just called them stuck-up," Sakura said, making my eye twitch. Really, I needed to think of things before I spoke.
"Can we just go to the next one? I said rats were freaky." I avoided eye contact with anyone in the conversation and settled for trying to burn a hole through my sheet of paper.
"Rats are supposed to show how you feel about your enemies," Ino explained. Well, I didn't really have any enemies. Well, unless you considered Kakashi, since he was on my list of revenge. Then yea, I guess freaky would work.
"Dirty." Really the words Sasuke were using were pretty boring. I sighed and shook my head, trying to keep my eyes off of him. You never notice how much you look at someone until you can't do it anymore.
"Coffee…yea, coffee's next! I put energetic!" Again with the giggles. These girls seriously were having way more fun with this than I was. "What the hell's so funny?"
" Nothing! Uh…Sasuke, what did you put?" Ino asked cheerfully, which seemed to creep Sasuke out just as much as me. In fact, I could have sworn I heard hesitation in his voice.
"Steamy." I squirmed a bit when I felt a small shiver capture my spine. What the hell was that anyways? I tried to ignore my body's weird reactions to Sasuke's voice as I watched the girls continue to gasp for air through their laughter. What was so funny?
"Hinata, will you just tell us what it's supposed to 'imply'?" I made quotation marks with my fingers when I spoke to try and emphasize my annoyance. That only caused the girls to continue to laugh while Hinata stuttered through her blush.
"It…it i-implies…ho-how you want y-your…s-s-sex." I coughed a bit after the answer. I didn't even care about my own answer. My cheeks went red at the thought of the person next to me. Sasuke wanted steamy sex?! He was the most composed, cold-assed, stiff guys I had ever met. And yet, according to this personality test, the inner Sasuke wanted his sex to be…steamy? I nervously swiped my tongue along my lower lip. Sure, people used the word all the time to describe sex. Any story that got people hot under the collar assumed sex to be hot and sticky. But hearing Sasuke say it…hearing Sasuke saying it was steamy…
My body twitched in horrid excitement.
"I kind of figured Naruto would want energetic sex." But for some reason, nobody else was as obsessed with what he said. In fact, they seemed to find my explanation more interesting. "We should just call him the energizer bunny."
"Ino!" Sakura blushed while Ino continued to laugh.
"Alright I'm sorry. Let's just move on." Ino skimmed her finger down onto the page before tapping something. "It says here that the ocean is supposed to show how you feel about your life right now. Well Naruto?"
"Unpredictable…" But this test sure seemed to be 'predicting' a lot more things than I expected.
"Changing." I closed my eyes after Sasuke spoke, becoming queasy from all of the emotions I was shifting through. "My life is changing."
"Oh, you two are so ominous." I knew Ino was teasing, but somehow I had a feeling she was more right than she thought. Just what was going on here? One minute I want to shove the teme's face into the seat for being such a jerk, and the next I'm thinking about steamy sex with him!
About him. Not with him, because that would imply I was thinking of him in a sexual way. And I couldn't like Sasuke in a sexual way because then I'd like him. Liking him is not possible because we haven't kissed or anything. And we hadn't kissed because we weren't friends and hated each other! Well, no we didn't hate each other. We were friends. Friends that almost kissed except Kakashi ruined it. Which means we would have, and that could lead to why my heart was beating so fast. A quick beating heart meant I may like him, so it's possible to think of him sexually. So really, maybe, possibly I could have been thinking about sex with him.
Wait. Did I just counter my own argument? Shit!
"…is yellow, which is a person that you will never forget." They were talking? I looked down at my paper and realized they had gone onto the last question. Ino was yellow. So she was somebody that I would never forget. Well that was good I guess. I was going to tell the girl speaking I had gotten her for yellow, but Sakura moved to the next part of the question.
"The orange is somebody that is a true friend to you." Well of course Sakura was a true friend. Hell I was 'in love' with her for a couple years!
"Oh! This one is so cool. White is your twin soul," Ino continued. I blinked a bit when I realized that Kiba was next to white. Well that made sense. We were always getting into trouble together. I guess it was just a natural occurrence between two twin souls. Hah, I was liking this quiz more and more. Now I could use it as an excuse to Tsunade next time we got in trouble. Our souls were just 'bonding' or something stupid like that. Sure she wouldn't believe us, but Gai would. And then he'd distract her long enough for us to get away.
"And green is someone that will be important to you for the rest of your life!" Huh, go figure. The one kid who tried to just blend in was going to be an important part of my life. Maybe I was going to make a mattress department and he was going to be my tester. But maybe if red meant someone I hated or caused trouble in my life, Shikamaru would just be the peacekeeper between me and the teme.
"And red is someone that you love!"
"Huh?!" Ino blinked at my sudden outburst, and I was positive that Sasuke was arching an eyebrow. Apparently my shouting had finally started to wake up the other members of the bus, but I really didn't give a damn at the moment. There had to be a mistake.
"Yea, red is somebody that you will love. Or do love; I guess it depends on when you take this," Ino said, shrugging a bit. I continued to glance down between my paper and the magazine, waiting for someone to say 'just kidding Naruto, man you fell for it'. But when nothing came, I tried to change fate on my own.
"You're kidding right? That's not even funny Ino," I said, rolling my eyes. She huffed and gave me a glare that was unknowingly making my fears become reality.
"Why the heck would I lie about this? The test says that whoever you put as red, is a person you love or will love. Hinata took the test and got Kiba, so I'm sure that it's not wrong!" Ino instantly looked over to the now blushing girl, who seemed to almost faint when she realized said dog-boy was now wide awake. And when I say wide, I mean his eyes. "Uh…opps. Sorry Hinata!"
"Ino!" Sakura hissed, easily starting a fight between the two. Hinata was looking everywhere but her red match, while Kiba starting to match her in color. Shikamaru was quiet in watching the girls argue, probably just too lazy to go over and stop it. Lee and Neji were now up and talking, about something I really didn't bother to care about. Despite everything that was going on around me now, I couldn't help but block it out to stare down at the name that I had written. I swallowed weakly while my fingers shook a bit. I should have been scared because the paper said I was going to fall in love with Sasuke. Or maybe I was supposed to shake in anger from the test telling me a lie. But that wasn't why I was like this. It was the fact that somehow, my heartbeat continued to increase with the idea of it all. Being in love would probably scare anyone. Being in love with the same sex would freak the hell out of people. Being in love, with the same sex, and having his name be Uchiha Sasuke? That's a heart-stopper right there.
"You're shaking." I literally jumped in my seat and yelped, looking over to the guy I had been thinking about. He was now sitting forwards again, working on his drawing again. How he even noticed I was shaking was a complete mystery, because he wasn't looking at me. As if he read my mind, I could see a sliver of a smirk rise on his lips. "The armrest is vibrating next to me."
"S-shut up!" I snapped, turning to face forward again. Glaring at the paper a few more time, I folded it and shoved it into my pocket. There was no way I was letting anyone else see this. They may get the wrong idea. I couldn't stop the small voice in my head that asked which idea I considered wrong.
"The test is fake you know." I blushed in embarrassment when he sent me a look that clearly stated he thought nothing of his answers.
"I know that! Why the heck would I take it seriously anyways?" I glared to the side to ignore how shaken my voice sounded. He'd have to kill me before I admitted that the test had affected me. A small silence fell between us, even though the rest of the bus now clamored with noise. He continued to sketch while I stared at the seats in front of us.
"Because you're like that…"
"Like you know me."
"…being able to be convinced something is real because it's what others say. And yet-" I didn't want to seem interested in why he stopped talking, but I couldn't help it.
"What?"
"Nothing." The pressure on his pencil grew a bit more than I thought he noticed.
"Liar! Tell me what you were going to say!" He scoffed, but didn't answer me. Eventually I gave up, favoring the view outside out the window. Fine, let him be a jerk. I didn't care anyways. He was probably going to say something rude or snotty. The rest of the bus ride went by quick, which surprised me. Somehow my thoughts had drifted to pointless things that I couldn't remember when I snapped from my daze. Sasuke had put his drawing away, and by the shuffle of feet around me and the excited chatter, I knew we were there. Maybe the stopping of the bus should have been the biggest clue, but I wasn't always the brightest kid in the class.
"Assisi," Shikamaru started while we walked up a small dirt road toward the town, "is pretty small. It's not like Rome or Vatican. The place is mainly known for its medieval castles, and the church called Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi. St. Francis was a saint that was canonized in 1228."
"What does that even mean?" Kiba asked, blinking. Shikamaru sighed, and I knew he was mentally saying something along the lines of 'how troublesome'.
"It means that the person lived their life so well, and by the bible, that after they died they were promoted to become a saint. Francis was a friar before he became a saint. He's known for going up against the sultan in the Muslim religion, who wanted him to stop his preaching. However, when he was willing to walk through fire to prove his preaching was true, the sultan recognized his good intentions and allowed him to continue. Then after he died, the people saw him for his true dedication and allowed him to become a saint. Eh, I guess that's the short term version of it."
"So this place is pretty religious?" I asked slowly. It wasn't that I had a problem with religion, I just didn't know much about it. I was brought up under the idea that whatever I wanted to believe in was fine. So when people started to try and press their ideas on me, I got a bit freaked out.
"Not to the point where it's in your face."
"Oh good! Anything else interesting?"
"The town is very close together, and the shops are small. You won't find a line of designer places here. Most tourists only come to see the church and leave, but there is a hike that you can go on and see the entire area from the top of a hill. It leads to the Rocca Maggoire, one of those medieval castles I was talking about earlier. It was designed as a fortress for the town, and some of its walls still are intact around Assisi. The main part is on the hill though." Instantly it caught my interest.
"We're so climbing up to it!"
"Good luck trying to convince the girls." And by the way Shikamaru's voice flattened, I could tell it was going to be a struggle to get him to do it too. But I kept up my optimism as we continued, our feet soon meeting the grey stone of the town. We walked along a sidewalk that overlooked a huge area of Italy, which meant the girls stopped several times to take pictures. I could see why Shikamaru had said that Assisi was different from the other two cities. Yea it wasn't exactly tiny, but the noise was muffled and getting to it was all uphill, as if circled by an invisible shield to keep the rest of the world out. The buildings were designed differently, and I could see how the medieval times had shaped some places. The alleyways were small but not crowded like in Rome. It was just very…peaceful. Quiet. It made you relax without even realizing it.
"Alright class. This is the Basilica di Santa Chiara, where we will be meeting after you have a look around. I expect you all to be here by four o'clock, because our reservations are already set in Florence. Other than that, remember to stay in at least pairs, and try to explore all that you can." Iruka's smile was bright as he waved us off. I looked over my shoulder to see that Kakashi was already pulling him off toward one of the secluded areas of the town, and I mentally scoffed. Leave it to the pervert to try and make Iruka look for girls with him in a religious city. He had a better chance of scoring with the brunette teacher than finding play in the town.
"Where do you guys want to go first?" I focused back on the group when Sakura's cheerful question entered the air.
"Let's go to the castle on the hill! The Rocca whatever…" I was never good with names. And when they were in a different language, it was even worse.
"Wait a second! We haven't even explored the town yet and you want us to go climb some huge mountain?" I blinked at Ino's comment before slowly nodding.
"Why not?"
"What if there's something down here we want to do?" I sighed when Sakura spoke before moving to stand in front of the group, throwing my arms out around me.
"What the heck is there to do here?" I continued to walk backwards as I spoke, ignoring the eye roll that Ino gave me.
"The churches and the shops?" Like I cared about those!
"And the…the ice cream shop…" I glanced to Hinata in immediate interest, watching her gently point to the small store down the street. My mouth dried the picture of the yummy looking ice cream sitting on top of sign. Alright, so maybe the castle could wait. By the growling of my stomach, I could only guess it agreed.
"Ice cream it is!" I pouted when the group started to laugh at me. It wasn't my fault I was a growing boy.
"You know, the actual name is gelato. The two are completely different things," Shikamaru said, shrugging next to me.
"It's cold, edible, and I want it. Either way, I'm going to get some," I replied, rushing into the store to get my share of whatever it was. Each of us got our own assortments of vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry gelato, and the store owners were very pleased with how much money we brought into the small store. We (and by that, I mean Ino and Sakura) decided it would be easier for us to eat our frozen treat without the worry of walking up the hill. So afterwards they promised we'd go right after we explored the town, I agreed.
And even though I didn't want to admit it, Assisi was really cool. The arches of the alleys were complete reminders of the medieval look it was spilling from our earlier walk. Sakura and Lee were quietly talking while they walked in front of me, and for once Sakura wasn't looking for a way to escape. Maybe the relaxing aura got to her too, because she seemed almost friendly with Lee, which made bushy brows soar in excitement. I could practically see his feet lifting from the ground in excitement.
Sasuke, Neji, and Shikamaru were somewhere behind us. I barely even heard them talking. Well, that wasn't too surprising, since they were the least social of the group. But really, did they have to walk so far away from us that we seemed to be in different groups? From the corner of my eye I could see Kiba and Hinata walking to my right, Hinata gently cleaning the chocolate ice cream from her boyfriend's face. It was pretty obvious now that the two were going out, or were just about to start. Either way I was happy for them, because it seemed like they were a cute couple. Hinata was sweet and quiet, which would probably keep Kiba's big ass mouth from yapping so much. And since Kiba was always doing new and random things, I was sure I'd get to see more of Hinata's personality shine through. I heard Ino giggle next to me while both of us licked at our vanilla cones, walking down one of the smaller alleys of Assisi.
"This is delicious!" She said happily, and I couldn't help but grin. Ino really could be nice to hang out with when she wasn't fighting with Sakura.
"Hey there cutie." We both looked up at the cat-call (probably because we both thought we were pretty hot) to see a group of guys leaning against one of the buildings. Well, I guess it wasn't me they were talking about. The one in the middle of the three guys winked at Ino before grinning in a way that made me scowl. "Wanna put that tongue to good use, after all… ci un sexy ragazza." Alright, so I wasn't very fluent in Italian. In fact, I still couldn't really remember if bagno meant toilet or backpack. But the universal word of sexy was clearer than the space between Kiba's ears. These jerks were hitting on Ino. Their usage of 'sexy' did not seem quite so appealing as it should.
"Excuse me, but could you say it in English please? I don't speak Italian." I knew that the guys could tell Ino was irritated. It was probably because she heard the same thing I did, or maybe because they were eyeing her like a piece of meat. Normally she'd be ecstatic over the attention, but something about these grease balls even had me getting angry. Especially when they snicker and watched their 'boss' or whatever he was take a step toward us.
"Oh don't worry biondo, we'll teach you how to…strillo our language, bene?" Ino leaned back when the creep moved to touch her cheek, but a hand shot out and caught the guy's wrist before he even had the chance to advance again. At first I thought I had moved unknowingly, but the short sigh that came from its owner proved me wrong.
"Troublesome girl. Why do you always attract people like these guys?" Ino seemed to relax even though she pouted at her savior. Shikamaru then sent a lazy gaze toward the guy who now glared at him for interrupting his fun. "Trust me; you don't want her to 'scream' your language. In fact, you're lucky she doesn't know Italian, or else you'd be on the ground 'screaming' in pain. She doesn't take well to being called blonde."
The guy seemed to sneer at Shikamaru before yanking his wrist back. There was a moment that I almost thought the lazy boy would say 'what a drag' and walk away. After all, it was Shikamaru we were talking about. But whatever Ino had put in that note last night seemed to change a tiny part of Nara's way of life. Instead of backing away, Shikamaru slid his arm to rest along Ino's shoulders and kept his eyes on the group of guys. Normally I'd chalk it up as a friendly (or tired) gesture, except Ino was now blushing and Shikamaru had a steady hold on Ino's other shoulder.
"Stare lontano da lei." Shikamaru watched the slight scowl on their faces before he sighed and rubbed his temple with his other hand. "Since your accent is fake and I'm assuming your friends are from the same country you are, I'll say it in English. Stay away from her. Bene?" I don't think they expected to find a genius hidden behind that lackadaisical look. Really I shouldn't have been surprised by the fact that Shikamaru spoke Italian. I mean, the kid knew everything else about the country. Seeing that their little plan to stump the 'sexy blond girl' into coming with them failed, they easily made their retreat out of the alley after muttering some insults. And I'd like to add they were all English insults too.
"That was awesome Shika! You totally showed them up." I punched in the air and laughed at the now yawning boy, who looked more like he had been physical fight than a verbal. Still, his hold on Ino's shoulder didn't loosen.
"They used the sentence wrong anyways. They were trying to say sei un sexy ragazza, which means'you're a sexy girl'. They got the wrong translation and said ci un sexy ragazza, which means something like 'us a sexy girl'. So like I said—" Shika's sentence was cut off when Ino hugged him, pressing her forehead to his shoulder. Even while he sighed and acted like the touch was unwanted, I could see the blush that was rushing under his cheeks. His unused hand came to his temple to rub it. "Troublesome girl."
"Thank you for doing that! I couldn't understand anything they were saying and I was really confused and…and…" I stepped back a bit as I watched Ino hold tighter onto Shikamaru's shirt. It was moments like these, though very rare, that Ino showed her weakness. Ino didn't do well in situations she didn't understand. Her power was talking her way through every problem and solution. When people took that factor away from her, bad things happened. One time in science class during our junior year, Ino got detention for a week for pouring a chemical over a girl's head. It really was the other girl's fault for teasing her in Spanish, which Ino never took. She didn't like having to rely on other people because she was such an independent person, so in situations like these Ino had problems. Luckily for that jerk, Shikamaru was there. He was probably why that guy was still able to walk properly.
"Stop thanking me." Even though he groaned, Shikamaru never let his hold go on Ino. Deciding this was a good cue to leave, I took a step back quietly. Unfortunately, the back of my foot hit a staircase and I went tumbling over, breaking the silence with a large shout. I winced when I felt a stair against the back of my head, and decided it was better if I tried to catch my breath before I moved.
"Shit, Naruto, you okay?" I gave a hesitant thumbs-up to Kiba before letting my hand drop back to my side as I closed my eyes. Sure, I'd be fine once the world stopped spinning so fast.
"Well, that's one way to use your head." I wanted to snort at Neji's comment, but it was lost in my throat when he continued. "He found the Rocca Maggorie hill path."
"Really?" I pushed myself to look up at the staircase behind me, and instantly grinned at the sight. Straight ahead we could see the castle, thought it seemed way too far away to be a direct run. Still, that didn't stop me from stumbling to my feet and darting up the cobble steps. "Let's go!"
"Wait up Naruto!" But I didn't want to wait. Sakura and the others would catch up soon, and I wanted to get there as soon as I could. After all it was getting pretty late in the day, and we were leaving Assisi soon. So I continued to jog up the steep stairs that seemed to continue forever. I was reminded of the Spanish steps because of the burning in my legs, but there weren't as many stairs. Slowly the cobblestone switched to a narrow dirt path that started to turn and wind through the trees of Assisi. I paused to look back, and nearly tripped off the side of the path when I realized the teme was now jogging behind me.
"Don't look so surprised dobe. I'm faster than you." Yea right! I growled and ran faster than before, easily continuing up the steep hill; like I was going to just let him insult me like that. My adrenaline must have kicked in, because before I knew it the long journey up the hill was over. I panted as I stared up at the paved street I had finally made it to, grinning despite how tired I was. Sure, Sasuke had kept up with me in the end, but at least he looked worn out too. We stood at the bottom of the pavement, seeing one last hill we had to climb to get to the top where the castle was. I snuck a glance back to see the others slowly starting to make the last stretch, but they were still pretty far away.
"You want to wait?" I jerked my head to look up at Sasuke, who seemed to have collected his composure enough to control his breathing. I barely let a moment pass before I stood up straight and rolled my eyes.
"They'll catch up. I'll race you to the top!" And without warning I shot up the worn out tar toward the top of the hill. The slope was tough but it didn't stop me from continuing up to my goal. And really, that was all you could call it. Because being able to stare out at the entire landscape of Italy was completely breathtaking to me. I gripped onto the steel guard rails that lined the hill, feeling some of the receding paint chip under my grip. Still I didn't care as my eyes wandered along the hundreds of miles around us. The city seemed so small compared to when we walked through the alleyways, and the only thing that stopped the view from continuing was the mountains that lined the horizon. You could see farms and towns, roads and vast areas of nothing but land. How many people in the world could see this? How many people were that lucky?
"Don't fall idiot." I looked over to Sasuke, who now sat leisurely on the stone bench that I was kneeling on. He seemed to press his hand to the surface, as if checking for security before leaning his back against the railing.
"I won't fall asshole." I pouted and glared away from him back out to the scenic view in front of me, which instantly made me relax. Closing my eyes halfway, I leaned my arms on the railing and lowered my voice slightly. "This is fucking awesome…"
"Hn." I turned to yell at him again for dismissing such an amazing view, but I stopped. Maybe he didn't voice it, but Sasuke was just as blown away as I was. His head was tilted toward the site, the notebook from before now sitting on his lap and his pencil perched to draw. His face was still stoic, but the relaxation in his posture was almost unbelievable to me. Sasuke never leaned. He was always poised and mannered like he was royalty or something. But for once in his life, Sasuke almost seemed to be enjoying himself.
I didn't know how long we stayed like that, but it was enough time to let the others catch up. I wondered why Lee hadn't been able to catch me and Sasuke (he was the fastest guy in our school) but then I realized he had stayed with Sakura to make sure she didn't overdue herself. He really did have the pink haired girl's best intentions at heart. The girls gawked and squealed at the sight, and made us pose along the railing for several pictures. Then they continued to scatter through the huge area to take each view in. Even Neji seemed impressed by the scenery when Lee dragged him to the edge of the hill, and to impress Neji was a big deal.
"Come on guys! We're going to go into the museum before we have to leave." I looked up from where I was standing to see Kiba waving to me and the others. Neji, Sakura, and Lee were already on their way over, and I moved to join them until my reflexes made me look to the bastard. He still sat in the same spot as before, continuing to draw. I hesitated before slowly giving into his emo ways.
"You guys go ahead; I've seen enough museums to last for the rest of my life!" I laughed when Kiba rolled his eyes at me and wrapped his arm around Hinata, following Shikamaru and Ino into the castle. I sighed when I watched them leave before I moved back over to my original spot, letting one leg hang over the guard rail. The other I rested against the inside of my left thigh, pressing the bottom of my shoe against my thigh. If he noticed I was there he didn't show it, seeming perfectly content to ignore me and continued on his art. Curious to see how much he had been able to do, I leaned on my hands and leaned my head over his shoulder. I nearly choked on my surprise when I realized how far he had gotten. Damn Sasuke was fast, and not sloppy either. I glanced between the art and the actual scene, and I couldn't believe that he had that much talent. Why the hell didn't he show it off?
"You're in the way."
"Teme you're friggen good at this. Why don't you tell people you draw? If I was able to draw a straight line, I'd so get my props for it!" I didn't move my head, forcing him to stop in his work.
"I'm not you."
"You're right. I'm too cool for you."
"Your conceitedness amazes me." I blinked once at his muttering before looking up at him, my nose slightly brushing his. When had I gotten that close? I let out a slow breath to try and pretend the intimacy didn't affect me. Out of habit I grinned, which seemed to only make his eyes narrow. "What?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you're kind of girly looking?" I yelped when his notebook came in contact with my forehead. It didn't hurt as much as surprise me and I laughed when he pulled the weapon away and turned to face the view again. "It seems so."
"Be quiet. Your stupidity might spill out onto me." Apparently I hit a nerve from the way he insulted me. Sighing, I plopped down to sit facing the view, letting our shoulders brush.
"Fine fine, I won't say it again." I got a quiet scoff in return. I leaned both arms on the middle bar of the rail, continuously glancing between him and the landscape of Italy. "When did you start drawing anyways?"
"Seven." I was surprised he even answered me. I was so used to a snort or 'hn', it actually took me a minute to reply.
"Jesus that's a long time. Do you plan to make a career out of it?"
"No."
"Well why not?"
"Because I won't."
"Well that's a dumb answer!"
"And you're a dumb person. It evens out." I growled at him, but he seemed unaffected by it. Instead he looked back out at his model, as if deciding what part he wanted to draw next. Why the hell was he so evasive? Why couldn't he just open up? Why did he have to be so cold toward me?
Why did I even care?
"What color was I on your list?" Why the hell was I bringing that test up?! I seemed to catch him off guard too by the way he blinked and turned to look at me.
"Excuse me?" Well now I couldn't really back out of my statement. Sasuke probably wouldn't let it drop anyway. So I steeled my shaking nerves and tried to seem passive about the whole conversation with a roll of my eyes and a grin.
"The third question. What color was I?"
"It's not real. It doesn't matter." I felt my anger bristle at his dismissal of my question.
"That doesn't mean you have to keep them all secret! Come on, tell me," I whined, shaking his arm a bit. He sent me a glare that could make hell freeze over. Apparently I didn't mind the cold because I continued to shake the limb.
"Stop." His command made me only shake harder. It was fun getting Sasuke riled up, especially when he got the wrinkle in his nose from trying not to snap at me. When I had started to notice his habits I wasn't sure, but I stopped all thinking when his other hand shot out, grabbing my wrist and stopping all of my movements. It wasn't sure if it was his pressure or the touch that made me freeze. "I said…stop."
"Then tell me." He stared at me in silence, and I almost saw the thoughts processing through his mind. Then his hand tightened on my wrist, probably to keep me from pulling away.
"Who said you were even on my list?" I couldn't help the slight wince that came with the harsh question. I guess I never really thought he would leave me off the list. I kind of just assumed since I automatically put him on mine, he had to put me on his as well. And he seemed to use the same thought process. "Where was I on yours?"
"Who the hell said you were on mine?!"
"You made it obvious, dobe." I looked away at his smirk, feeling myself squirm in my spot. I couldn't exactly get away from him with his grip holding onto my wrist. And now that I unknowingly exploited he was on my list, I had no way of backtracking. When had this been turned to me? One slip of the tongue and now I was heading straight into a disaster. So I tried to weasel my way out of telling him the only way I knew how; insults.
"Bastard." But sometimes my mouth…
"Idiot."
"Jerk." Had a mind of its own…
"Loser."
"Teme." And I can't stop myself from blurting out…
"Dobe."
"Red!" The truth. I jerked my head so close to his I could hear the soft intake of breath from his mouth. I was blushing; I had been since I started the stupid insult exchange.
"Hn." I stared up in anger into two stoic onyx eyes, which watched my mouth struggle to open again.
"You were red." I felt like I needed to make it clear, even if my head was screaming at me for ever admitting that in some twisted way, my test said I was going to fall for the teme.
"The tests aren't real." Well that kind of felt like a punch in the gut. I ignored how bad that affected me in order to get my own answers.
"There, I fucking answered you. Now tell me where I was on your test." I could tell he was immediately set off by my commanding tone, but I was really too pissed to care. If he didn't even think the tests were real, why the hell did he want to know my answer? Why did he drag it out of me just to scoff at it and then dismiss it like nothing? I felt the hand at my side clench, and I would have decked him if I didn't notice the slight change in Sasuke's features. His lips were pressed tightly together, as if irritated by something he was going to say. The pressure on my wrist was gone, but he still held onto to me. The normally pale cheeks he was born with were tinted with the slightest discoloration I had ever seen on a person. And for a minute, I swore I saw an awkwardness in his gaze that I couldn't place under frustration or annoyance. It was almost like he was…embarrassed to speak.
"Orange." Meaning I was a true friend. Meaning I really wasn't just some kid that Sasuke dealt with because he had to. I went to roll my eyes and tell him he didn't have to make such a dramatic deal out of calling me his friend, but he wasn't done. "Yellow." Meaning he'd never forget me. I felt myself heat a bit at the realization that I meant more to Sasuke than I had thought. That maybe he was getting the same acceleration of his heartbeat, and maybe he was feeling the same swell of emotions running through him that I was. That somehow he also felt bothered and out of place when our eyes occasionally lingered on each other. "And…"
He fell silent afterwards, and my eyes widened in shock.
"You…" I swallowed to try and stop my voice from cracking again. Suddenly I felt too close to him, too far away. Like I needed to shove him and yank him closer at the same time. My stomach was practically doing summersaults while my breathing came out as a soft shudder. "You broke the rules."
"The test was fake."
"You're only…supposed to use a name once…"
"It wasn't real." Was he trying to convince me, or himself? Because as far as I was concerned, it didn't matter if the answers were true or not. But the proximity that continued to shrink between us and the lowering of our voices seemed to speak volumes about this unexplainable attraction.
"Teme." I was whispering now, because any louder might have made him pull back from this. What was this anyways? Whatever it was, neither of us seemed to care.
"The answers mean nothing." There was no Kakashi to stop us this time. And even if he was there, I wasn't sure my lips would have stopped from leaning up and claiming that mouth that talked too much for once in his friggen life. I closed my eyes tightly at the first touch of our lips, feeling a quick tenseness in his body. But he wasn't pulling away, and I wasn't going to half-ass the only kiss I may get. I didn't understand what the hell I was doing when I pressed firmly against his mouth, but the panic from my actions melted away when he slowly joined into the kiss and it was exhilarating. His fingers swept along the inside of my wrist, making my lips barely part at the unexpected shiver. The action seemed to affect him too, because the same hand pulled me closer on the bench while his tongue slipped along my lower lip. I let out a soft breath between our mouths, unsure what to do next. His patience seemed thin because another brush of his tongue came, and I finally parted my lips completely. It was his turn to waste time, because he continued to only brush my lower lip while we kissed. Somehow, the anticipation made my body shiver or squirm each time he pressed along my lower lip before retreating back to his own mouth.
Air became the enemy as I felt my lungs start to burn, and I finally pulled away from him in order to breathe. I hated how pathetic I sounded gasping for breath, especially when Sasuke seemed composed. Well, as composed as you could be once you kissed another guy senseless. His cheeks were still flushed and now his lips were starting to bruise from the pressure. I stared at the discoloration and felt a swell of pride inside myself. Who would have thought that Uzumaki Naruto would be the one to make Uchiha Sasuke's mouth swell? Then again, I could tell from the tingling in my mouth that my lips were probably looking pretty different too.
"Uh…" Shit, what do you say after something like that? I bit my lower lip to keep myself from groaning in frustration. What the hell had I just done? I kissed Sasuke. As in, mouth to mouth, lip to lip, tongue to…well, lower lip…gah! I didn't just kiss him, I made out with him. On a stone beck in public view! Sure the Italians were fine with homosexuality, but still! What if one of our friends had come out, or the entire group for that matter? What the heck would they think? But when we kissed…it just all came natural to me…there was no explanation for it. I closed my eyes tightly at all of the emotion I felt running through me.
I jumped when I felt a soft tap along my forehead. Slowly I looked up at Sasuke, who seemed to leash everything he was showing before. The soft fist rested against my forehead, and I mentally cursed for letting myself blush at how intently his eyes watched me. What did he want me to do? I had just molested him, wasn't that enough? Well, he did answer back. It was an equal molestation, right?
"Dobe." Why did he say it like that? Why wasn't there anger or annoyance in his voice? Actually, why was there even emotion in his voice? Sasuke was supposed to be the one who processed everything and then came up with the logical excuse or reasoning for why it happened. So then why hadn't he said anything else? And why was he staring at me? I knew my confusion was starting to overwhelm me.
"Naruto, Sasuke! You two better not be fighting again!" I jumped a bit and looked up to see Sakura calling us from the exit of the castle. From their angle, it probably looked like Sasuke was hitting me in the head, which was normal when it came to the two of us fighting. Thankfully, they were too far away to see my blush while I pushed Sasuke away from me, brushing my shirt off and cupping my hands to my mouth.
"It just comes natural to us!" Yea, so does making out apparently. But I ignored that voice in my head when I glanced back at Sasuke from over my shoulder, watching him slowly start to zip his bag. Once he slung it over his shoulder, we both headed back to the group. The group chatted about what they saw in the museum while we walked. The trip was slow down the path toward our meeting spot. I glanced at Sasuke from the corner of my eye, slightly frustrated by the fact he was staring off the other way. Well, until he looked at me. Then I looked away and got frustrated that he was looking at me.
"The stairs are going to suck going down." I heard Kiba say, drawing my attention from my racing thoughts. "They're pretty steep. One slip up and you'll get hurt."
"Then don't rush it. Just take it slow and don't think about falling down." Even though I knew Sakura was talking about the stairs, I felt uneasy with her words.
How could I take it slow when I wasn't even sure what it was?
And that's the end of that! Whoo that's a lot of words! Haha I hope that you liked it because I slaved in order to get this chapter done! So they finally had their first intimate moment. So what did you think? Things are heating up in Italy, let's just hope Naruto doesn't have a panic attack! Reviews would be liked! Thanks a bunch!
Chapter 6: Forever in Florence