Woe... I'm Life's Whore
Woe… I'm Life's Whore
Naruto discovers some funky feelings. A LOT of drama ensues. AU SasuNaru, plus other pairings (surprise ). Some possible OOCness.. plot-line a little more serious than the title.
Main Pairing: SasuNaru/NaruSasu Others: GaaNaru/NaruGaa KibaShino/ShinoKiba SasuOrochi/OrochiSasu
R&R
Chapter Seventeen: The Freezing Frenzy
Naruto lay on his bed, face buried into his fluffy, tear-stained pillow.
He hadn't been to school in days. It was so unlike him. He felt like such a woman. But thoughts like that only sent him deeper into self-pity.
He felt the dull ache in his chest throb again. His eyes were dry, for now. He had been cried-out.
It wasn't fair.
-
InstantRamen: You keep ignoring me! Damnit, Sasuke! Why do you keep flipping like this?!
UchihaAvenger: I told you, I'm sorry.
InstantRamen: Sorry doesn't cut it! I need an explanation!
UchihaAvenger: I'm quitting this thing now. I'm sorry.
InstantRamen: You're breaking up with me? Is this because of Gaara? Or something else?
UchihaAvenger: No. I'm sorry. Goodbye, Naruto.
UchihaAvenger is Offline
-
Sasuke had switched off his mobile, refused to pick up his home phone, didn't come to school, wouldn't come online and he was never home when Naruto had gone around.
It had been Saturday night when they had spoken over Instant Messenger.
Now it was Tuesday.
A couple of his friends had called him, he just listened to their messages apathetically, before deleting them and hiding back underneath the safe-haven of his covers.
He felt like an innocent child. Whatever mess he had gotten himself stuck in to, he was finding it hard to detangle from.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
Naruto didn't bother moving. The clock he'd been staring at said it was almost four in the afternoon.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
He shifted his glance to the phone. It was noisy.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
Naruto thought about picking it up. What would his friends say if they found him in this state? Disgusting.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
Click. The phone snapped over to the answering machine.
"You've reached Naruto Uzumaki. I'm obviously off being too amazing to answer your call right now, so leave your name, number and message, and I'll get back to you once the hangover's disappeared."
Beeeep.
"Ahhh... Naruto, mate. It's Chouj' here. Some of us were going to head over to that new ice-cream place after school. You alright? Uh.. any who.. According to a couple of the girls, if you don't come over here then we're coming over there afterwards..."
Naruto looked around. They couldn't come over when he was in this state. He hmm'ed for a moment before picking up the receiver.
"Chouji?"
"Oh!" he said in surprise, "where you been?"
"In the shower..." Naruto lied.
"Long shower," Chouji joked.
Naruto smiled, "heh, yeah. So... where are we meeting?"
"It's near your place. Kind of near the school. Walk there in fifteen minutes," he said casually.
"That doesn't help, Chouji," Naruto sighed.
"Oh, right. Uhhh.. you know where that old Factory Outlet place was?"
"They got rid of it??" Naruto said, disappointed. That was the only place local he could get his favourite tacky orange hoodies. (They were cool, ok?)
"Yeah... it's there, alright?"
Naruto nodded into the phone, pausing while he realised that Chouji couldn't actually see him.
"... ahyeah.." he said, hanging up.
-
Chouji Akimichi stared blankly at his cell, which was blinking dully, reminding him that Naruto had just hung up.
"What's up, Chouji?" Temari blinked a few times at the boy.
"Huh? Oh. Nothing," he murmured.
"Ah-huh," Temari said, pointing her index finger on her chin, preparing a sarcastic quip. "Is Naruto, coming, Chouji?"
"Oh," Chouji blushed momentarily. "Yeah, told you I'd get him to come."
Shikamaru sighed. Chouji grinned.
"Looks like my ice-cream's on you, Shika."
-
Naruto had arrived at the ice cream parlour ten minutes before the others had, and he sat, dutifully and uncaring, on the paint-chipped benches which stood creaking outside.
"Narutooo!" Naruto looked away from the black chewing gum mark on the pavement up to where the yell had come from.
Naruto couldn't help but let his mouth twitch up into a small smile.
They were all there. All of them.
His eyes felt warm with the kind of tears that don't sting your eyes. The tears that wash you over in a comfortable silence.
Happy tears.
Naruto knew immediately that they were all here for him, and him alone.
They were his friends, after all. But Naruto knew that Neji and Shino should have been at the Tuesday afternoon SRC meeting, and that Kiba and Kankuro should have both been at their football training, and he even knew that Hinata had her piano lessons today.
But they were all here.
Kiba was yelling and waving at him loudly, making a total fool of himself and not caring one bit. They all walked towards him, bouncing and smiling. His friends.
Even Fuzzy-brows was there!
Everybody.
Everybody except Sasuke.
Naruto's smile dropped slightly.
He pushed that voice to the back of his mind.
That was over now.
"Guys.." Naruto choked.
Sakura came up and put a delicate hand on his shoulder. "Mister Uzumaki," she said, putting on a teacher's voice. "You did not attend school today..."
The guys behind her giggled.
Temari put her hand on his other shoulder. "Too true, Miss Haruno," she said, putting on a similar accent. She turned to the rest of the group. "And what do we do with... truants, like Mister Uzumaki?"
The gang grinned.
"Freezing Frenzy!!"
-
Freezing Frenzy was, is, and always will be the ultimate way to cheer someone up. Milkshakes worked wonders, but Freezing Frenzy worked miracles.
Naruto looked at the huge, high-piled sundae in front of him. Strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice-cream scooped into balls and heaped onto a plate, covered with mountains of whipped cream, thick chocolate sauce and sprinkles.
Neji smiled cheekily as he looked at his watch. Naruto sat at the ready, spoon glinting in his hand.
"3.." Neji counted, "2... 1... GO!"
Naruto plowed into the ice cream as fast as he could, not bothering to let the frozen dessert dissolve in his mouth.
He knew he had to move quickly, it'd hit him before he'd realise it.
He had almost made it through two and a half scoops before it felt like an anvil had been dropped onto his brain.
Naruto toppled out of his chair and onto the floor, clutching his head, grinning and wincing at the same time.
"BRAINFREEZE!" the roar came, and they all started laughing wildly, Naruto included.
Naruto grinned up at his friends, some of which were giggling, others placing bets on how long he'd last the next round.
"Four bucks he only makes one scoop!!" Ino yelled.
"Three on another two!" Lee put forward his money.
"I- I- think he can m-make four," Hinata said, putting five dollars into the middle.
"Big spender, Hinata," Temari elbowed her. She blushed.
"Let round two begin!" Kankuro yelled.
-
Naruto had finished the entire bowl after only seven rounds. At which point they all bought their own ice cream and headed round to the harbour to watch the boats go by.
By the time the sun had fallen beyond the horizon, Naruto had bided most of his friends farewell, thanking each and every one of them, not really caring if they knew why or not.
He had briefly told Shino that he wanted to discuss something with both him and Kiba when they were alone, and Shino had opted to staying behind after everybody else had left. They were only a few minutes from Naruto's house, and Shino had plans to go back to Kiba's afterward, which wasn't too far off.
After Kankuro and Temari had decided that hanging around with those three was too awkward, they had waved and smiled their goodbyes and left to walk home.
Naruto's chest felt heavy, and he was ridden with guilt about having to put any burden at all on his friends. He sighed as he remembered, they would prefer it that way. I don't have to do it on my own.
They were lying on their backs, watching the sky. Night time was starting to fall and the sky had turned a deep orange, which was fading into an obscure blue. Stars were beginning to twinkle dully.
Naruto sighed again.
"Shino, Kiba. What would you do..."
Naruto paused. He didn't want this to sound like anything major. But he couldn't really think of many other ways of saying it. Shino and Kiba allowed him the pause, not wanting to interrupt his train of thought.
".. how would you deal with breaking up?"
Kiba's eyes widened and Shino sat up. "..Naruto..." Shino started.
This isn't what Naruto wanted to hear, he didn't want pity or one of those 'it's going to be ok' talks. Kiba sensed this and piped up.
"Depends," he stated, blankly.
Naruto blinked at him. "Depends?"
"Well, yeah," he said, shrugging.
Naruto waited for an extension of what he was saying before Shino poked him as if to say 'you had better finish what you started'.
"Well... if I thought I liked them," (Shino coughed), "I mean... loved them enough, I probably would chase after them."
Naruto's heart froze up. Love?!
Love?!
Had that thought occurred to him before?
Vague memories rushed back to haunt him.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I lo...
"Naruto..."
Naruto's surroundings fluttered back to reality. Kiba was standing over him, shaking his shoulders. "God, Naruto, don't scare me like that."
Naruto smiled at him, before bouncing up and running off.
"Thanks Kiba, Shino! I'll see you both later, ok?"
The two boys watched Naruto's sun-kissed hair fade into the distance.
"Sometimes I don't know, Kiba," Shino said, shaking his head.
Kiba turned to his boyfriend and grinned, "wanna make out?"
Shino continued shaking his head, a faint smile hiding in his lips. "Sometimes I just don't know..."