The raven didn't wait for an apology. He strode past Naruto, calling just loudly enough to be heard over the intense background noise. "Take him up."
A pair of meaty hands landed on the blonds' shoulder and before he could so much as squawk in protest, Naruto was dragged away.
.:xXXx:.
Sasuke was not having a banner night. For several reasons.
Most currently pressing of his troubles, was the result of the blonds' wild squirming. The man whom Naruto had bumped whilst flailing about had spilled his drink. Some had landed on the floor, the other half, had found a home on the Uchiha's expensive black blazer.
He was tired, thirty more of his men had just gone missing; he now reeked of alcohol and he'd just been informed that his topmost informant had been killed.
Sasuke dared Satan himself to bring him one more piece of bad news.
The Uchiha wove through the small audience he and Naruto had drawn with all the skill and finesse of a choreographer. He needed to change his clothing, a necessity made decidedly easier by his forethought in keeping a few things in his office. An Uchiha was always prepared.
Or so Sasuke had thought, but nothing could've prepared him for the news.
The news had come while the Uchiha was on his way back from overseeing a drug drop. The drop had been huge: nearly four-hundred pounds of the stuff. This was a job that Boss Hebi had to supervise personally; a policy he had decided long ago would be in Hebi's best economic interests.
Suigetsu's cell-phone had chimed from his place in the passenger's side of Sasuke's crimson Cadillac. One of the many underlings the Uchiha employed was on the other end about a call he'd received from a mole. Another of the Uchiha's preset precautions: Sasuke never gave the informants his information, just in case they ever had a change of heart and tried to sell what they had to the authorities. He'd established a chain that eventually, after one waded through all the dime-a-dozen plebeians on the call list, led to his ears.
What the man, one of Sasuke's many informants within the local law enforcement chapter, had to say was...troubling.
Danzo was dead.
The Konoha Police Department's three story brick building had burst apart and collapsed; either incinerating or crushing everyone inside. Thankfully, the mole had just gotten off his rotation and was driving away when the structure had detonated behind him.
No one as of yet, knew what caused the explosion or who was responsible. Sasuke's witness had placed a hooker visiting the chief's private offices (which was according to his information, a common occurrence.) just before the bomb went off. Fingers were being pointed at the woman, but Sasuke wasn't so sure. He had built a reputation for never taking events at face value. It was another reason that he was still alive.
Certainly, it seemed like the whore would have the appropriate motive. Danzo had been misusing that rumpled woman for as long as the Hebi leader could remember, probably longer than that. Who else might hate Danzo enough to kill him with the means to get close enough to do it? But by the same token, Danzo's secretary might've been the arsonist. And if it was the whore, why had she blown up the entire building, if all she wanted was one man? Why not poison him, or stab him while he was in the middle of one of his 'premature detonations'?
No, there was something bigger going on here. Someone else had set off that explosion. It wasn't the work of the commissioners' abused streetwalker. It was too big, too violent, too showy, too…
Much like something Akatsuki would do.
He came to his office, a large stone and iron door and slid inside; his mind going at warp speed.
But if that gang had truly been responsible for the explosion, it begged the question: why? What did they hope to gain from the destruction of the Konoha Police Department? Anarchy? That seemed to be their method of operation, but were they well enough established for such an open show of militant force? Was the chaos worth the risk of exposing themselves so completely? Unless…
Sasuke's fingers froze in the middle of unknotting his tie.
…Unless that wasn't that their goal in the first place. What if the explosion had been a cover, a large sort of sleight of hand? But then what were they trying to hide?
In a rare physical show of frustration, Sasuke flung his shirt onto a nearby chair. This was going nowhere. There was no way he could know what Akatsuki was doing unless he could somehow get inside their heads and he didn't trust all that metaphysical hock.
The raven paced over to a closet hidden neatly in the back wall. Pulling it open, Sasuke grabbed the closest shirt. Quickly he donned the clothing. He always made an effort to look good, but whenever he was in his club, there was a more distinct necessity. He had to create the proper impression of aloof control to all who knew him as Boss Hebi. As for those who called him Uchiha Sasuke the owner and manager of 'Sound', it was best he come across as nothing more than a beautiful man. And he knew he was beautiful.
That was not arrogance on the Uchiha's part; he knew what whispers circulated when those who surrounded him thought he wasn't listening. He heard the giggles and twitters; he had been hearing them for literally as long as he could remember. And the raven was not above utilizing his appearance for his own benefit. He mechanically began tucking the hem of his shirt into his pants and rethought his choice. He left the shirt-tails untucked, opting not to select a tie to replace the one he'd lost to a moron who couldn't hold his liquor, literally.
Dubiously, he flicked open the first and second buttons on his shirt to reveal a nice tease of moonlit skin stretched across the well defined plane of his chest. This was better; more suited for the sort of work he had planned for this evening.
He'd left Suigetsu outside, a decision he was more pleased with than he really ought to have been. The corner, which the bleach-blond claimed to know well, was a typical hangout for some of the brothels Hebi protected.
Sasuke hadn't commented then, nor did he find it peculiar when he'd watched his lieutenant walk back the way they had just come. Instead, the raven had simply sat and observed as Suigetsu turned a corner to stroll casually down the street and towards Karin's apartment complex.
Whether the two of his inner circle were meeting to have sex or to beat each other up; the Uchiha didn't particularly care. Just so long as they didn't kill one another, and it didn't affect their effectiveness, Sasuke would let them do whatever they wanted to or with each other.
So he had come to 'Sound' alone, never suspecting that his greeting would be a hurried blond nearly bowling him over in a mad attempt to gain the exit. In fact, the bowler was probably the last person he would have ever anticipated seeing at his club.
Uzumaki Naruto.
The name had rung a bell the first time he'd heard it at the café. After the Uchiha made some discreet inquiries, he'd found out why.
Everyone had heard the story of the young D.A. and his wife who were slaughtered the night their child was born. As it turned out, that child had been Naruto. Sasuke had also found out a little of the blonds' background, little details like: the man was less than a month away from his twenty-fourth birthday. He was one hundred and sixty-nine centimeters which was roughly five feet ten inches tall. He was naturally blond, a trait he had inherited from his father: Uzumaki Minato, the ill-fated District Attorney from going on twenty four years ago. His blues eyes were also a natural phenomenon as was his atypically dark skin. The six whisker-esc scars he wore on his cheeks, however, as Sasuke came to understand, were not natural.
The raven had seen the birth record and he had found no mention of the scars in it, a detail he was sure no doctor would have overlooked. But he'd carried them in the orphanage photo Sasuke had seen, at the age of six or there about. The only logical conclusion was that the marks had been bestowed upon the blond in the time between the two, but who and why?
Another mystery, but at least this mystery had a positive note to it unlike his befuddling Akatsuki conundrum.
Sasuke's precautious check of Uzumaki Naruto had revealed the blond to be nothing more than what he appeared to be: an average, hard-working, law-abiding citizen of Konoha. But the Uchiha wasn't bothered by the findings. He had to be careful about whom he let close to him. It was actually something of a relief that the blond was not a hired gun or assassin… The man gave decent advice.
Sasuke took a deep breath through his nose; why try to deceive himself? It was futile and it wasn't as if there was anyone around to witness his mental admission.
He was in desperate need of a diversion at this particular juncture in his life. He felt as though events were progressing in a comportment far from his control and the Uchiha disliked that sensation very much. He needed to feel in control of something again. He needed to allow himself to pull back from these recent and baffling series of developments. Once he had that structure back, he could think, he could plausibly decipher the Akatsuki's reasoning and next move.
That was something he believed that he had found in the blond man.
The possibilities…
His linen button-up shirt was now a rich purple that made his pale skin glow. He'd left his soaked blazer with the cleaning staff and had also switched his pants, just to be on the safe side. The clean, cream-colored material was a nice change from the drab grey slacks he had been driving around in all day. The change was a good one.
With one final check to straighten the seams of his already flawlessly positioned clothing, the Uchiha strode out of his office and into the clubs pulsing darkness.
.:xXXx:.
To Naruto's surprise, he wasn't thrown out of the club on his ear with a stern warning to never set foot in 'Sound' again. He was instead dragged unceremoniously up a flight of stone steps which were made out of the same black glassy material as the rest of the structure. From what Naruto could see as he was hurriedly hauled up, they stairs had been literally fashioned from the wall, carved step by literal step up to the second level of 'Sound'.
He was going to pay for running into Sasuke, of that the blond had no doubt whatsoever. Visions of torment and painful restitutions played out in his mind as he continued to slip on the polished stonework.
What awaited him at the top of the stairs was another thing altogether. As he was pulled roughly by the collar of his jacket over the last step, Naruto began to gaze about in astonishment.
The second level was completely different from the club's lower levels.
It must've been reserved for exclusive clientele, or VIP's because there were only about fifty or so people milling around; all carried the air of the disgustingly and filthy rich.
It was a large rectangular platform suspended in midair over the ground floor by a dozen cables all as large as Naruto's fist. The floor was made of the same shining black stone as stairs and outside of the construct, but the diameter was maybe and eighth the overall size of the ground level. There was no railing along the edge of the platform that Naruto could distinguish, nothing between a single misstep and a good twenty foot drop to the shifting masses below. The only advantade Naruto could see to this safety hazard was that the lack of guard rail allowed for a clean, clear view of everything happening on the ground floor. The cages and catwalks were also plainly visible from half dozen booths which sat near the edges of the floating stone dais.
Naruto's eyes continued to rove around the 'room'. The man who had dragged him up was currently in the middle of a rather heated debate with a dude who looked like he'd been shooting steroids every day of his adult life. This was one argument which Naruto was content to stay out of.
Two small rises at the very far end framed a large semi-circular bench/couch hybrid. On these podiums, two more scantily clad strippers showed off their flexibility by wrapping themselves around the iron poles which protruded vertically from the stone. Mercifully, both were female.
To the blonds' surprise, not many of the guests on this level were paying anything more than a casual glance to the dancers as they wiggled and slid around their provided prop. Everyone here seemed to be more intent on whomever they were talking to at the moment. The very air was different here. Naruto sniffed. It lacked the desperate energy that permeated ground level. The atmosphere up in this place was all about business; the sexuality was still an undertone, but it was casual now that the Uzumaki felt his stomach starting to twist.
The two burly bouncers had finished arguing and had apparently decided that it was the steroid guy's turn to take charge of Naruto because as the first man stared back down the stairs he had just come up from, the second grabbed the blond.
Naruto was beginning to feel very much like he was a rag doll, being dragged about hither and thither, switching hands like a bad penny.
Before he could think to voice his protests to this newest of his 'captors' he was pushed down onto the same semi-circle leather booth he'd seen from across the locale and told in no uncertain terms that he was not to move.
Naruto glanced around, feeling his skin prickle with self-awareness as every eye turned to stare back at him. The blond shifted, uncomfortable on the plush leather and wondering if there was a way he could make it downstairs without getting nabbed again by Sasuke's security.
A hush settled over the fifty who were gathered and as suddenly as Naruto had felt their attention turn to him, heads rolled the other way. Curious, the Uzumaki followed the direction to their newest interest. Azure eyes caught a figure at the far end near the stairs he himself had ascended not so long ago, he leaned back in his seat, trying to merge himself with the material.
Uchiha Sasuke stood, the patterned white lights mounted above played across the jet black spikes and bangs, bringing out the silky sheen the man's hair naturally possessed. The blond knew exactly how the man's incredibly luxurious locks gleamed, he'd seen Sasuke twice in 'Leaf's' unfiltered light. He might've compared Sasuke's hair to the dancer he'd seen downstairs, but the difference was obvious. That actor grew his hair out because it was a part of his job, took care of it because it was something that made him look a certain part. That he took care of it was plain enough, but the Uchiha didn't seem to be doing it to play a part, or to show how well he could take care of himself. The man did it because he was Uchiha Sasuke; he was gorgeous, he was sexy, he was beautiful, and everyone knew it.
The raven began a measured walk towards him, his body fluidly gliding across the suddenly too short distance between them. As the man drew nearer, details began to leap out at Naruto. Details like: Sasuke had changed clothing.
Well he'd expected something like that; after all the Uchiha had gotten a drink spilled all over him. But the change…
His pants had gone from a dull grey to ebony, the black clinging sweetly to the man's powerful legs.
The blazer was gone as well as the pressed white shirt Sasuke had worn underneath. Both had been replaced by a crisp purple button-up.
Naruto hadn't really been a big fan of guys wearing feminine colors, he himself could pull off the color pink, but he stuck strictly to orange, blue and black. It was just something taboo in his mind, guys wore guy colors and girls wore girl colors. But the effect of purple on the raven was anything but feminine. The rich hue set Sasuke's pale skin off perfectly; pure luminescence, it made the man seem not so pale somehow, a smooth cream instead of driven snow.
The shirt was tailor made and fit Sasuke's lithe figure, firm slender chest, strong, slim arms…
The man was quite close, close enough for Naruto to notice that the two topmost buttons of his shirt had been left purposefully undone. The blonds' eyes wandered rebelliously down the small tease of flawlessly glowing skin; across the shadowed slash of Sasuke's collarbone, up the pure column of the man's throat. They traced along the faultless jaw, skimmed his regal nose until his met the man's…eyes…
Naruto felt his face heat and he wished once more to sink into the leather seat and disappear.
Sasuke, unaffected by the blonds' third subsequent and thorough cataloguing of his person, continued to move smoothly towards the bench.
He took a seat in the center of the couch, placing Naruto a few feet to his right.
The raven set an elbow on the furniture's back, allowing his fingers to casually slide against the smooth animal hide while he fluidly drew his leg up to cross over the other.
Silence reigned supreme, excepting the general public who had watched the Uchiha's ascent and went back to their interrupted conversations, for the two men seated on the bench.
Naruto tried, he honestly did, to melt through his seat and the platform. He was pretty sure that he could survive the drop and maybe, if he was lucky, he could recover from the jolt and get away without Sasuke doing whatever it was that he was going to do to him. And even if he didn't, Naruto had an uneasy feeling about the brunette.
He darted a glance at the as of yet silent man to his immediate left. His eyes caught the Uchiha's. The black eyes flashed in his mind, bringing another, very recently glimpsed set of black eyes.
For an instant, their eyes locked; dark, lust filled eyes, half lidded in passion met Naruto's wide, innocent blues.
The man licked his lips…
Naruto jerked and snapped his head back away from the raven.
Yep, he'd rather risk the fall, definitely the fall.
..XX..
Sasuke wasn't sure when he'd been more entertained in his life. The Uzumaki was such…fun to toy with; his reactions were so honest, and open. It was amusing. He knew that his prolonged silence was wearing on his companion and the discomfort was showing.
But the man had been very on edge when he'd arrived. The Uchiha didn't chalk the entirety of the anxiety on Sasuke's rather abrupt method of transportation; he'd be a fool if he took everything at face value. Something had distressed this man even before Sasuke had gotten to 'Sound'. The man had been running out of the club just before their timely collusion, but what…or whom?
"Naruto,"
The blond visibly stiffened, his spine ram-rod straight. Tentitively, the man peered over his shoulder, a move Sasuke remembered from the first day he'd met Naruto. The man had been quite obviously hoping that he'd imagined the call, just like now. A hope which left those open azure eyes the instant they met Sasuke's direct gaze.
"Y-yeah?"
The raven didn't respond immediately. He allowed the question to hang in the heavy air, watching Naruto's every apparent emotion as they flit individually across the man's scarred visage. It was a technique he used with stubborn informants, the silence and the prodding of their own inner voices was typically enough to woo them into cooperation. The Uchiha excepted the same result here.
At last, it seemed that the blond had reached his limit. He sprung to his feet, pointing what might've looked like an accusatory finger, but what Sasuke was beginning to understand was actually a defensive gesture, in the Uchiha's direction and yelling.
"Look, I didn't mean to maul you, I didn't even spill that stupid drink on you. And you treat me like I'm some sort of criminal; not even giving me the chance to apologize before you sent your evil henchmen on me! You should at least give a guy half a chance to apologize properly before you do…" Naruto paused, undecided as to which of the awful tortures his mind had conjured the Uchiha would unleash upon him. "…whatever it is that you do to people that crash into you and accidently get other people to spill drinks on your nice cloths."
The image of the blond walking back to wherever it was he called home, stark naked flitted briefly though the raven's mind.
He ignored the errant impulse and said. "Sit, if I wanted you punished, you would not be in doubt of it."
That made Naruto shut up, took the preverbal wind right out of his sails. Curiosity became the dominant new emotion on his face.
"Then…" He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, like an animal taken by surprise, caught between fight and flight. "Then why am I here? What was the big idea of sending 'Dumb' and 'Dumber' to grab me if I'm free and clear?"
The Uchiha didn't miss the hint of suspicion in Naruto's voice or the caution in the man's open book face. This was not going to be simple, good. The Uchiha would've been disappointed if his blond guest were easily dominated. Fortunately, this looked to be a challenging battle of wills. Sasuke wasn't even sure if Naruto had even considered…men.
"What were you running from?"
The blond swallowed, visibly. And the minute interest he'd held became intrigue. He waited while the man in front of him seemed to gather himself to respond.
Naruto scuffed the toe of his tennis shoe against the floor, pulling at the sleeve of his jacket with one hand. Sasuke saw the wristwatch. Whatever the device said pleased the Uzumaki because the blonds' characteristic grin was back in place.
"Hey, I have work in the morning and it's actually a lot later than I thought I'd be out. I should be heading home." Naruto made as if to leave, but turned to add one last statement. "Come to 'Leaf' tomorrow and I'll make sure that your meal is on me to make up for running into you."
The Uchiha nodded, which was really more of a slight inclination of his head, watching as Naruto made his way gingerly through the crowd and down the stairs. Unreadable eyes stayed on the door long after the blond had left.
The Uzumaki's lack of response did not trouble him. He would've been surprised had the man given him any sort of hint. But the solution was simple enough to deduce.
Sasuke thought back to the accident. The blond had been coming roughly from the direction of the bar. Taking into account the dodging and weaving, given size of the mob tonight, the blond had been seated somewhere near the center.
The Uchiha flicked his gaze down to the lower level, scanning the wall of glass behind the bar. Two showrooms accounted for the ten or so middle seats. One held a lone woman, her long purple hair brushing back and forth against the white skin of her exposed shoulder blades. The barely-there dress she wore was a light shade of amethyst which matched her lengthy lavender tresses and her shy eyes. She strolled around the enclosure, brushing against the walls, lowering herself to the floor. She would stretch and arch her back, stretching in timid seduction, revealing her…flexibility.
The woman was not something to become frightened of Sasuke decided. Naruto was not that unexposed.
His gaze shifted to the second showroom and everything became very clear. Neji and Sai twisted around each other in a blatant display of lust and sexuality. It was completely fake, Sasuke knew the dancers he employed well enough to know that that pair in particular would never have touched the other if not for the sake of their generous and necessary paycheck. But there was no way that Naruto would know that. Such a scene might cause a reaction like the one Sasuke had seen in the blond, provided that the viewer had never seen any such displays in their life before.
It was plausible; more so than the alternative: that he'd been frightened away by a little girl.
Sasuke was becoming more and more certain that Naruto was, or had been, never shown these…unconventional enterprises. The implications of that fact added an entirely new dynamic to the situation, an unanticipated twist to overcome.
The Uchiha felt humor beginning to curl at the corners of his lips. Perhaps this unexpected exhibition was actually more to his advantage. The blond had seen what pleasure there was to be had in such avant-garde relationships, a delicate subject and one Sasuke was not particularity thrilled about broaching.
It was with mild apprehension that the raven realized he had not the desire the push Naruto; yet another twist to the ever changing puzzle.
But he could wait for the unpleasantness of the initial jolt to wear off before he pressed the blond any farther.
After all he was an Uchiha.
He could wait.
.:xXXx:.
He was warm, so warm. The blood hummed in his veins, the rush and thrum of his heartbeat heavy in his chest.
The breath felt thick in his lungs. He exhaled and slowly drew in the fresh air through his inexplicably dry mouth, savoring each new flavor as it entered his body. The fragrance of new dust and old wood were all about him, mingling with a scent which niggled at the back of his mind. He wished he could remember, but whoever owned the sweet combination of clean sheets and rain eluded him. For a moment he felt as though it was at the very tip of his tongue and then it was gone, a fluttering of moths wings on the evening air.
Something was happening to him, he wasn't sure what exactly, but that something was nice. The warmth which had prickled across his face spread across his skin and the blond gasped at the sensation of a silk paintbrush sliding across his bare chest. The pleasant glide disappeared, as though it had been frightened away by his sudden intake of breath. The blond moaned in displeasure, unconsciously reaching out for the source of the withdrawn strands of silk. It had seemed a paintbrush's bristles at first, but the feeling changed almost as he felt it, the whisper of soft hair as it was passed along his skin.
His fingers met nothing but empty air. He whined, stretching further forward…farther…
There!
His fingers met with smooth skin. Carefully, his digits curled, tracing the delicate curvature of a jaw. His hand coasted upward, traveling the soft skin until it reached the soft line of lips. Gently, with the pad of his thumb, he traced the sweet curve, the slim pillow which lifted in the corners as he explored.
A hand caught his wrist, slender fingers wrapping around in a grip which was tender, yet surprisingly strong. His fingers tingled as those same lips he'd moments ago investigated began to burn openmouthed kisses onto the pads of the five fingers and his callused palm.
The blond writhed with sensation as that smooth mouth slid down his captured wrist and the tan skin of his forearm, down to the inside of his elbow. They placed luscious kisses where the blue veins were visible threading through the bronzed flesh, teasing at the hyper-responsive area that he wasn't even aware he possessed.
The mouth continued their travels, frisking the blonds' tan shoulder, nipping at the collarbone, disappearing for an instant before a light lick at the hollow of his throat made the blond shiver.
The smell was all around him, rain and clean sheets. He thought that no one could smell so incredible, It couldn't be humanly possible, but…
The fingers which had trapped his wrist released, finding a new place, gliding along his gently heaving abdomen. A single digit traced the swirl on his stomach, slowly circling in.
He panted, it was so much. He didn't know how to process every one of the million signals battering his senses all at once. It was so beautiful, so warm and wonderful.
He was being turned. And suddenly had was standing, bent over, his face pressed roughly up against a hard and unyielding surface. His hands scrabbled upon the walls smooth texture for a moment before they joined his cheek splayed and pressed into the cool plane.
A hard heat was pressing into him from behind, the warmth from the body spreading slowly over the small of the blonds' back and up his chest. The hands were back, caressing the flat planes of his chest, tracing the indentation around tightly corded muscle. Two fingers played up a pectoral, the trimmed end of a nail skidding along skin and around the strangely sensitive nipple. A third finger joined in to hold the erect bud and lightly squeeze. The blond gasped and felt a foreign rush of pleasure pool downwards, to a place he had never paid much attention to.
Wave after wave of the same new, heady sensation rippled around the blond. It seemed like they were connected to the body hunched over his own and pressing, oddly enough, into his backside. He wondered distantly through the haze of pleasure enshrouding his mind if he truly did feel a naked chest pressed against his back, a man's chest.
Man's…
The same slender fingers slid under the waistband of his pants, grabbing hold of his very aware cock. They slid expertly along the blonds' engorged length, massaging the vein along its underside.
Everything shifted into focus as if the blond had been travelling at light-speed and suddenly slammed on the brakes.
The cool glass reflected the whiteness of the room behind him, fogging with every ragged breath he exhaled. He could see himself in the slight reflection, the half-lidded eyes, the open, panting mouth, the flushed cheeks. The body behind him was also visible, blurred and distorted, farther away, but the blond saw a head of luscious black hair.
The fingers slipped off the head, toying fleetingly with the slit before gripping the blond fully once more.
He cried out, instinct thrusting his hips through the confining grasp. The heat began to build and pool dangerously. He felt as though he was climbing higher, reaching for something just out of reach.
His hips sped up, so did the strange grinding pressure against his arse.
The pressure in his cock rose to a crescendo.
"Naruto…"
The image in the glass snapped into focus. It was the same well-kept spikes and raven wings framing the same perfect features, this time covered in a light sheen of sweat, his bangs plastered against his passion dampened brow. It was the same perfect lips, nose and eyes, but now shadowed in a frightening emotion.
Naruto pressed back against the glass, looking out of the white room and into the club beyond, into his own horrified blue eyes.
"Sasuke!"
Naruto started awake, the familiar sights and smells of his apartment doing their part to calm him.
He was lying on his stomach in his bed where he'd laid down once he'd gotten home from 'Sound' a good hour after he planned.
He'd seen that stupid gay sex display and it had freaked him out, obviously more than he'd thought. Or…he'd thought it had freaked him out, but…
Naruto's hand wiggled down to his pajama pants. The Uzumaki winced when he felt the slide of fluid on his fingers.
A wet dream? How…
Sasuke…
The blond rolled out of bed and felt around on the mattress. Fortunately, the sheets hadn't gotten stained. Naruto thanked his lucky stars that he wouldn't have to take a trip down to the Laundromat tomorrow.
His soiled pajamas and underwear were shed and disposed of quickly, a new pair of both rapidy taking their place before the blond settled back into bed.
But sleep eluded him. Where once his mind had laid tile in black and white some had been pulled to slowly expose a frightening grey area within himself.
The morning found Uzumaki Naruto, the orphan, huddled under the insufficient protection of his blankets in much the same way he had spent his nights back then: frightened and alone.
Author's note: Rate and longer reviews please. I thrive off encouragement.
TBC...