IRIDESCENT

(adj.) producing a display of rainbow-like colours.

A smudge of calm blue around the edges of the image, soft strokes of pink that were loving.

Red streaks angrily scribbled at the top, letting it drip like blood.

A burst of orange at the center, highlighted by yellow and black, creating a firework of the sun and the night sky.

Each streak elegantly curved thinly and widely around the orange.

Delicately clashing the spirited colours to make it burst with contrasting emotions from a steady hand, sweating back, and focused eyes.

Dragging out mixtures of the colours to form new emotions with each stroke of the brush he held; carefully etching in his emotions and experiences, making every detail reflect a piece of his past.

Hate, love, loneliness, friendship, loss, happiness.

Pain.

These were the emblems of Naruto's life, the roots of what made him stronger.

At first, he was just lonely, then resentment moved in with the loneliness which started a flame of hatred.

Friendship was what came next, extinguishing the hatred with a softer fire, something akin to gentleness; Soon that sanctuary was torn away from him, leaving a scar.

Everything went back to its original monotony, but somewhat brighter than before that hatred was no longer flourishing in him, but loneliness was still there, making the pain remain. But then Iruka came to Naruto with a smile and a wordless promise, giving life to the hope Naruto believed to be dead.

Iruka Umino was the one who offered Naruto a house and a family, the one who guaranteed and succeeded in providing growth, warmth, and guidance Naruto required to properly flourish as an adult.

Naruto was born in a dark abyss, made of malice, contempt, neglect, and pain.

There was never was a way out for him, the only choice he ever had was to tolerate the pain, or choose to die. Death almost did get to Naruto, just barely touched him, waiting to see if Naruto truly desired to pass on to the afterlife, he was so close, but pulled away when he felt the presence of his friend calling him, begging him to not give up.

By the time he awoke from the mindless sleep, the voice was gone, and so was the owner.

If it wasn't for his best friend, Naruto was doubtless that he wouldn't still be alive and breathing if his friend hadn't given him a sense of purpose. So many years, he was alone.

His best friend came and went, giving Naruto the taste of a bright future before disappearing. Iruka came with a different kind of future, a solid, warm family. Determined not to be left behind, Naruto clung to the second chance to escape the jail of darkness. Guided and assured throughout the whole walk, always told that he would be alright.

He transitioned from being carried by Iruka, to walking side by side, holding hands tightly, loosely holding hands, no longer touching but still side by side, until finally they reached the end.

It was a contrast to Naruto's life before. The world was white. Blank. Iruka was no longer there anymore.

But Naruto wasn't frightened, he had been guided, taught, and aware of what was at the end of his scary journey by Iruka. There was nothing to be afraid of, because Naruto was ready for the world; Iruka had given him what he needed to live contently with nothing to regret.

Iruka passed the will of fire into Naruto's soul. Each step Naruto had taken, created detailed scenery around himself; the details were beautifully created, but lacked colour and life. Every time Naruto spoke, sang, danced, or drew, colours and music would bloom around him.

With this gift, Naruto touched the lives of people he cared about, encouraging them to pass on the will of fire.

Some he never saw again, but felt satisfaction that they'd be happy in the end regardless.

Yes, the harsh reality he grew up with hardened tiny parts of his heart, but he was always open when it came to his feelings and thoughts, which was why he wasn't angry about anything of his past, in fact, it made him empathetic, able to bond with people because he understood the unwanted feelings he felt as a child.

Which was why art had appealed to Naruto immensely. Art was never mainstream. Always taking different forms, images, colours, and colours; it was different, able to capture a story only to leave viewers the pleasure to comprehend the depth of it, leaving them to interpret the story however they liked.

Art must be unique to be remembered.

Naruto took art as a chance to create something for himself and others, to share the journey of meeting life changing people, how he found the will to live on, to survive because he made it this far and refused to give in to his pain.

Time was never something Naruto was conscious of, so when he had finished painting everything he valued to the smooth floor, Naruto had ended up taking a good two hours.

Grinning from ear to ear, Naruto took one last glance of his work.

It was the night sky, clouds lightly sewn besides the elegant, white moon, stained by dripping red. Pink illuminated from the moon, the center, a bursting flower blooming from the moon and sun.

Together the day and night created a flower.

Turning around, Naruto wasn't surprised to see Sasuke's smothering eyes narrowed in disinterest; what Naruto did find surprising was the man beside Sasuke.

He looked familiar, pale lilac was an uncommon eye colour.

It was obvious the man was the same class as Sasuke, so it was rather surprising for Naruto to find the lilac eyes encouragingly looking at him.

"So uh…" Naruto's eyes returned back to Sasuke since out of the two, he knew Sasuke better.

"What do you think?"

Sasuke sucked his teeth a little as he took another thoughtful glance at Naruto's resume.

"You're skills are satisfactory. Says here you're an art major… However what I'm looking for is absent, so let me ask one thing." Sasuke's fingers intertwined, his elbows perching up on the table as his head tilted upwards in a mocking manner.

With cold steel eyes, Sasuke asked "Why haven't you entered in art shows? You obviously display fair skills."

Shrugging a little, Naruto gave a half smile "Never seemed important to me, I guess I never had a good enough reason to participate in stuff like that."

"What changed?"

"One, I need a better income. Two, I have someone I have to find cause I owe him everything."

Stopping a short moment, Sasuke turned to give Neji a disbelieved expression for Naruto to have such simple and strange reasons.

"Which of the two is the primary reason for this change?"

"Second."

Sasuke sucked in his lips, chewing slightly on his bottom lip.

"Never changes…" Neji chuckled softly under his breath.

Shortly glancing at Neji, Sasuke found the words uttered by his partner perplexing. It seemed Neji knew Naruto, obviously in a romantic sort of way, whether or not this was a mutual feeling on Naruto's part, was left unknown. Sasuke debated and deemed Neji with his dewy eyes.

Sasuke couldn't afford for Neji to screw up, it looked like it was time for Sasuke to take it upon himself to decide if Naruto was worth anything to Sasuke's ambition.

Naruto was far too carefree to comprehend what kind of world Sasuke lived in.

Gullible. Sasuke labeled.

Sasuke wasn't so impudent to deny Naruto contained a potential skill.

Untrained potential, what a waste.

But it wasn't too late to hone and nurture this talent, Sasuke had the best of the best to provide planning and lessons.

"Tell me, what makes you different from the rest of the participants? What makes you unique?" the words echoed in the room softly.

For a moment, Naruto looked bashful, unsure and self-conscious.

Shifting his weight between his feet, Naruto chuckled lightly, before he finally shrugged off all insecurities, showing off a bright smile.

"I won't lose. That's a promise."

Unimpressed Sasuke pressed on with questions, narrowing at Naruto's ordinary smile.

"Promises are weak if they're based solely on petty words. How can you be so confident that you'll be the one to succeed?"

Unwavering, Naruto continued with his bright eyes, tilting his head up to meet Sasuke's dark contrasting eyes, the light shining through Naruto's eyes, creating a cobalt glow.

"I never go back on my word. This whole test of ability is for the sake of something substantial for you right? It's just as serious for me, what makes you think you can exceed my expectations?" Naruto asked with a grin, provoking Sasuke to feel a hint of amusement.

"Cheeky." He commented. The grin widened, white teeth beginning to reveal which sparked something in Sasuke's chest.

"You're dismissed." Sasuke quietly confirmed, his calmed expression hardened when Naruto had refused to move. "Naruto."

"Geez, fine…" the cheeky man huffed, gathering his paints, rolling up his brushes with a towel before he headed out the exit.

Unexplainable as it was, the lights appeared to dim gently, like the sun had stepped out, the lightbulbs achieved a mediocre job of maintaining the life left by Naruto's presence.

When Sasuke turned to Neji, he was out of site, Sasuke took the lucky guess his friend had gone to catch up with Naruto.

Neji's personal life was not Sasuke's business, Neji held an understanding of separating personal and professional issues, which Sasuke had faith Neji could handle matters by himself.

Not like Sasuke cared.

Not really.

Almost surreal. Trembles of excitement was built up inside of Neji, as he approached Naruto with an eager stride. The tiny chance of the silhouette fading out of Neji's grasp was terrifying, his nightmare come true.

"Naruto." He calmly called, his hand finding comfort in settling on the broad shoulder of the painter. That this person was real, today was real. The search was over.

"Hmmm?" Naruto stopped, caught off guard by the sudden contact of an unknown stranger. Turning his body with a slow step, Naruto's expression instinctively twisting a shade happier to be called on.

Neji took a quick intake of air before clearing his throat almost nervously.

Almost.

"It's been a while."

"Pardon?" the expression shifted to mild confusion.

"Apologies, there's been a considerable amount of time since we last saw one another. Roughly seven years since we last conversed. You were fifteen and I was sixteen."

For the next passing seconds, Neji's excitement drowned in panic that Naruto had forgotten with the prolonged confusion evident in Naruto's face.

Neji could never forget that time in the rain. It was after Neji had nearly lost everything when he had been disowned for being gay by his prejudice family. The scenery was still freshly painted in his mind, raindrops that faintly contained the odour of grease, mild burn in his chest as his heart plummeted and shattered into a broken heart, sending the agony of rejection through his nerves like a needle. After all the time he spent with his uncle who had taken him under his wing after his father's unfortunate passing, Neji had thought his uncle would have accepted him when he had chosen to admit his homosexual nature.

There was nothing wrong being attracted to the same gender. Nothing.

But the rejection ruined that solid belief Neji carried inside himself.

Afterwards, Neji began to heal. He had been a mess, but he composed himself with hardened grace, closed off from his family as he constantly was reminded he must repress his urges for the same gender if he were to be allowed back in his family. With frigid acceptance, he complied.

His heart no longer in shambles. Just a patched up glass heart, crumbling with every passing year.

No one questioned the sudden change in Neji, nor why he seemed to have lost aura of warmth. Neji preferred the distance he had with other people, especially with his pampered, naïve, and childish cousin, Hinata Hyuuga.

A logical man could understand that Hirata had nothing to do with Neji's rejection of her father, but to ease the sharp pain, he'd lash out on her with every failure she achieved, provoking her to give up before trying anything.

Then one thing led to another.

Hinata had been walking one day to her high school, passing by two eccentric boys around her age that were dancing and arguing. After a few minutes, they ran up to her and had asked for a bus ticket. One couldn't have expected this would lead Naruto and Kiba becoming close friends with his cousin.

Naruto being the wonderfully idiotic brute, didn't appreciate the way Neji harassed Hinata, fiercely defending her when Neji nearly slapped her.

The beating Naruto gave was unrestrained if not overwhelming. Neji couldn't move for a good two days after being punched into the cold dirt, numb from pain, feeling the odd sensation of satisfaction, that Neji had needed the feeling of physical pain to remind Neji he was still alive.

Naruto knew what he was doing, he was beating some sense into Neji's close minded life, that Neji didn't need the approval of anyone to be happy; Neji had all the roads to happiness before him, able to take any route and succeed with joy as a prize, unlike Naruto that started off as a failure, with nothing, having to work hard to maintain any strength.

"Wait…" the blue eyes scrunched in concentration, darkening from the golden lashes blocking any light from shining through his eyes.

Carefully thinking to himself, Naruto's face brightened in realization, turning to Neji with an expression that eased the nerves that knotted in his stomach.

"Shit. No…" Naruto shook his head, but the smile that plastered itself on his face spoke words of excitement.

"Good to see we're on the same page."

Naruto reached out and hugged Neji. Muscles flexed to give a tight embrace which caught the refined man by surprise, though he did enjoy the body that leaked from Naruto's body.

"Can't believe I didn't recognise you! Your eyes shoulda been a dead giveaway for me! Its been decades since I last saw you. How have you been?" he pulled away with kind eyes, relieved that Neji had changed, he was obviously still a bit uptight, but there was a sense of satisfaction in Neji with the way the gentleman's eyes and body were relaxed and calm.

Slightly disappointed by the cease of body warmth, Neji mustered an agreeable smile "Correct, its been too long Naruto, I don't place blame though, I have changed."

"I'll say, you look great." He grinned.

Slightly flustered, Neji nodded in modesty, which was rare since Neji wasn't unaware of how attractive he was, he knew he was the perfect refined gentleman of the up upper class with his graceful charisma and charm. But Naruto was the expressive, unrestrained charming, just absolutely stunning with his golden skin and radiant smile, followed by ocean eyes that reflected his personality; unpredictable, beautiful, and dangerous.

"Thank you." He accepted easily, covering his slight embarrassment with his usually expression of confidence before he recalled something he had wanted to say for many years.

Stepping forward, Neji breathed deeply "Naruto, I want to say thank you for the past, the last time we had met."

As expected, confusion carved itself on Naruto "You mean the time I pummelled you into the dirt?"

Chuckling under his breath, Neji nodded again before continuing "You helped change my viewpoint. When you left me after you had won, I stayed there thinking of everything you uttered and did to soon realize how much I must have been the fool for the world to laugh at."

Surges of encouragement filled Neji's blood, his heartbeat thumping heavily, building for the confession.

"Naruto I owe you for helping me realize-" However Neji was unfortunately cut off by Naruto trying to be modest.

"You don't owe me anything." He told, suddenly serious, his eyes met Neji's in an intense gaze.

"Every action back then was out of impulse. I went with what I thought was right. Don't feel obligated to give something back."

Heeding his words, Neji accepted Naruto didn't want anything back, instead Neji quietly asked "Would you acknowledge the both of us as close acquaintances?"

"If you mean becoming friends with you, then yeah, I'd love to."

Exhaling in relief, Neji allowed himself to smile. "Thank you."

The moment after, it was slightly awkward, not necessarily bad, but still stiff. Luckily, Naruto was never one to keep quiet over things, especially of it was centered on a positive topic.

"Listen, I gotta head out to my part time job, you up for a night out at Ichiraku next week?"

Almost top eagerly, Neji accepted Naruto's offer. "Sounds pleasant, would your offer happen to be for Saturday?"

"Yep, if you're busy we can reschedule."

"No. It's perfectly fine. What time?"

Naruto gave the thought careful consideration, his shift ended at 7pm, but acknowledging the phenomenon of life giving Naruto a hard time in traffic, Naruto decided to be generous with time.

"Eight pm sounds good for me."

"It's settled then." Neji concluded, gleeful that he had reunited with his old friend, and possibly love.