A/N: Okay so this chapter kicked the living hell out of me...-.-' But I pulled through in the end! I really like the direction this chapter took us in. Hopefully I can continue on this path. And I must let you know that there are changes going on in Sasuke and Naruto, this chapter is sort of the intro. to it all. I hope you guys like it, leave me a review if you wanna point out some weirdness, give me pointers or worship me lol j/k. Sorry it took so long to get out by the way, I was in an art competion (I got a medal!!) that was taking up like every second of my time...But it's over now so I should be writing more...
Hink: I'm glad that the beginning of the last chapter cleared up the confusion, hopefully my werid writing will be a little bit more understandable from now on. Thanks again for pointing out that to me.
Disclaimer: Trust me, if I owned Naruto...you'd know...-evil smile- lol
The Story so far: The disappointment of failing the bell exercise, in combination with the speech that followed was enough to inspire Kakashi's students to do better, but how? And what's with Ino? Doesn't she know that throwing away ramen is a crime that warrents death, or at least a lot of tension between our lovely dysfunctional ninjas?
Warnings: Mentions of Shonen-Ai, real Shonen-Ai (KakashixIruka) (even a little bit of SasukexNaruto),a tad of Shojo-Ai (InoxSakura), Swearing (you know the drill with this one), and one angry and confused Naruto.
Chapter 8
Naruto squirmed, he kicked, and then he let out a cry. Somehow through all of the exaggerated motions Sasuke managed to keep a hold on Naruto's midsection to keep harm from the blonde girl, who just walked right passed the crazy pair of boys and straight to Sakura. She hugged the kunoichi and Sakura giggled at her affection. Sakura smiled and hugged her warmly as a greeting. But Sasuke didn't have much time to observe the girls before Naruto was clawing at his arms, demanding that Sasuke release him.
Sasuke winced but said nothing as he noticed that it wasn't Ino Naruto was after. He hadn't turned around to try to get the girl for throwing away his sacred ramen. Rather he was directing all of his attention to the silver trash can that held his ramen.
Oh great! Sasuke thought as Naruto broke his grip and flung the trash can lid open.
Strong pale hands grabbed at Naruto's tan wrists. He wanted to yell at Naruto for trying to retrieve ramen from the trash can. The very idea was absurd! The idiot was going to make himself sick if he ate food from the trash can. Not to mention the fact that eating from a trash can was repulsive.
"Dammit Naruto," Sasuke growled out low.
Naruto was about to retort when Iruka came rushing to help Sasuke extract Naruto from the trash can.
"Naruto!" he called out gripping both Sasuke's and Naruto hands. "Let it go! It's only Ramen!"
"Only Ramen?!" Naruto repeated as he turned an incredulous look on Iruka. "She wasted my food! And not just any food! Ramen!" he took an abbreviated breath. "Ramen…"
Sasuke took the moment of 'tragedy' to forcefully pull Naruto away from the trash can. He secured the boy's arms in a straight jacket fashion. But Naruto lifted his legs from the ground and kicked around. A low grunt came from Sasuke as he collided with the door frame. As Sasuke forced Naruto passed Ino, Sakura and Kakashi he heard the tail end of the conversation over Naruto's incessant growling.
"How did you get in?" Kakashi asked Ino, curiosity obvious in his voice.
"It wasn't that difficult," she answered. "The window at the end of the apartment was unlocked."
Iruka had let go of their hands at one point in favor of letting Sasuke deal with it, since he seemed to always have to control Naruto one way or the other since he got back.
That was all Sasuke got to gather before Naruto was on his feet and trying to give Sasuke a piggy back ride to the trash can. Sasuke threw all his weight into his feet and thrust himself down to the ground, dragging Naruto along with him. His legs felt like a pulse of lightning was sent from his ankles to his pelvis upon meeting the floor with his feet. He swore up and down in his head but only bit his lip until it bled on the side that had to face the world.
Naruto let out a small yelp as he lost control of the situation. Sasuke took this brief moment of confusion to sprint to their room, where he would yell at Naruto for trying to eat out of a trash can, and for being so damn difficult. The door frame was the final crossing into the 'Sasuke-talk zone' and just as the boy was about to cross Naruto used his feet to lock himself into place inside the room but hanging in the air because of his stubbornness and his strong ankles.
Sasuke growled this time, "Naruto just let go…"
Naruto used his legs to pull himself closer to the hallway, "No! I need to go and get the Ramen!!"
"You're acting like a fucking child!" Sasuke grunted, fully aware of the fact that the door was still open and there were still people in the house. This of course meant that his voice was lower and still commanding.
"NO!!" Naruto countered pulling himself closer to the doorway with the strength in his thighs.
"I. Said. Let. GO!" Sasuke ordered pulling harder not caring if he pulled a muscle in Naruto's legs.
"FINE!" Naruto conceded and before Sasuke could balance himself Naruto let all of his muscles relax only to be pulled with full force into the room.
As he and Sasuke awkwardly tumbled to the floor Naruto let out a small yelp from the force of the fall. Naruto closed his eyes tight at the thought of an unavoidable meeting with the floor. Instead of his face bouncing off of hard wood like he thought would happen, he collided with something slightly warmer. This 'something' grunted in pain when Naruto's full weight settled on 'it's' form.
"Get. Off." Sasuke ordered through his clenched teeth.
Naruto's forearms kept Sasuke's pinned to the floor, "No, I think I like this." Just for effect Naruto got closer to Sasuke's face, "Kinda dirty…"
Sasuke stared at the blond idiot with a look that would send Orochimaru turn tail back to his mommy. "Get. Off. Now."
Of course, Naruto be who he is, had to mess around with the socially challenged boy. He stooped down and licked Sasuke's sun deprived cheek. He could feel Sasuke go rigid underneath him. So Naruto traced the line again, and again. With each swipe of Naruto's tongue Sasuke got more and more tense. Every muscle in his body was screaming in protest with the tightening of the tendons and such but he didn't relinquish his hold over them.
"I think you like this too," Naruto commented, bright as sunshine.
"I think you've got a death wish…" Sasuke warned grinding his teeth a little.
Naruto leaned closer into Sasuke so he could whisper in his ear, "No, I think you do like this. If you really wanted me to get off of you, you would make me get off."
Sasuke's hands, which had lain dormant until then, clenched into fists that threatened to rearrange Naruto's entire anatomy if he did any further actions.
"Ahem…" A voice interrupted from behind them.
Naruto whipped his head around to see who it was. Well it was none other than Sakura, "Hey Sakura!" It wasn't until a second later that Naruto realized that she had probably seen everything.
He climbed off of Sasuke and onto their bed so fast that Sasuke was sure that he would have needed to activate the Sharingan in order to see it. Sasuke wiped the spit off of his face, as if to erase the evidence of the act that had just taken place.
Sakura put her hands up slightly, "Oh no, don't let interrupt your little session, please, continue."
Sasuke glared at her for her sarcasm. She was wasting time by not saying exactly what she was there for and that pissed off the frustrated Sasuke.
"Save your glares," She ordered as she walked in their room and sat on their bed. "I'm here for a reason."
Naruto's face lit up, "Hey! You can read his looks now too!"
Sakura plopped down next to her teammate (the other was still sulking on the floor), "Nah, that one's been there since we were in the academy. It was too easy to decode."
Naruto laughed lightly, "True. I guess you're still a novice at reading Sasuke's expressions."
Naruto's laugh caught Sakura's lips and tugged them into a full smile, "I guess I am. But you seem to be the expert in Sasuke-ology."
Sasuke glared at the both of them, why did they insist on talking about him like he wasn't there? True, he couldn't very well just leave the room but they could not talk about him. Yeah right like that'd happen, he thought flipping a black strand of hair out of his eye.
"Sasuke, come up here, I need to talk to the two of you," Sakura requested as she patted down a small space on their soft and inviting blanket.
After a second or so of resistance, Sasuke moved to join his team on the spacious bed. He settled a fair distance from Naruto and Sakura but close enough to hear what they had to say. Apparently this simply would not do for Naruto or Sakura. Naruto hooked his arm around Sasuke's neck and pulled him closer to their little gathering.
"Don't be a stranger!" Naruto advised as Sasuke's body went rigid all over again.
"Yeah, it looked like you two were getting to know each other all over again a few minutes ago," Sakura pointed out as she rested her elbows on her crossed legs.
She waggled her eyebrows to emphasize her point as Naruto let go of Sasuke's neck and coughed. Sakura had this special way of making him rethink his actions. Sasuke was just grateful that he could breathe again.
"Okay so what was it you wanted to talk to us about?" Naruto asked redirecting the conversation to a 'safer' subject.
Sakura smiled for a moment and then got serious, "As you two know the last bell exercise didn't go quite as good as it could've."
"Duh!" Naruto rudely stated.
"Just listen you!" Sakura commanded as she hit him in the back of the head. She settled back into her air of intelligence and started again, "Well, I want us to work on our teamwork. So tomorrow morning I'm going to wake the two of you up and we're going to train."
Naruto wanted to smack himself for not thinking of this, it was so obvious, so simple, and the wound caused by Kakashi's words still felt like salt was being poured in large quantities over it.
"Okay," Naruto agreed as he chanced a look at Sasuke. For a second Naruto could have sworn he saw grief in the black eyes but it was gone before he could confirm such a phenomena.
"Also Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji are coming over the day after tomorrow," Sakura added lightening the mood that was set but the implication of their teacher's utter disappointment.
"Really? Why?" Naruto inquired. It seemed kind of weird for them to come over just out of the blue.
Sakura stretched her back out slightly to hear the satisfying pop of her bones, "Because Ino has a mission tomorrow so I won't be able to see her, and I thought it would be nice to have all of them over."
Naruto nodded, "Okey-dokey!" The brightness in his voice nearly gave Sasuke and Sakura sunburns. He really needed to tone it down a little.
Sakura stepped onto the floor and began to leave their room, "Don't forget about tomorrow, so get plenty of rest."
She closed the door behind her and left Sasuke and Naruto in their awkward silence on an overly comfortable bed. Naruto reclined his body to allow his head to rest on the pale wall behind him. Sasuke remained planted in his spot on the bed. Glaringly blue eyes slid shut in an attempt to shut out the rigid Uchiha, but failed miserably when the ignored one shifted just enough to rustle the sheets. The rustling and the quietness of Sasuke just seemed to rub away at Naruto's already thin patience.
"Dammit! Can't you just be tired like a normal person?!" Naruto shouted in all his frustration.
Sasuke looked taken back by this, if only for a split second, emotion crossed his face before reverting to his natural glare, "Why is my fatigue an issue for you, Naruto?" he asked in that usual condescending voice. By all his standards his behavior was normal. It was Naruto who was acting nuts, just a second ago he was joking around with Sakura, what in the hell happened?!
The blond let out an over exasperated sigh, "Why can't you talk like a normal person?!" He wasn't sure why he was so very pissed at Sasuke but now he couldn't help himself, he had to pick apart every little flaw that the Uchiha presented to him.
"Because it pisses you off," Sasuke replied sarcastically as he moved his neck from side to side with the force of his fisted hand to crack the bones in his neck slowly.
The sound of bones made Naruto's toes curl, "Well, good job Sasuke! Mission was a complete success!" he returned huffing out another breath.
"What in the hell has you pissed off at me?!" Sasuke yelled feeling his fuse burst the time bomb that was strapped to him whenever he was around Naruto.
"All of you!" Naruto answered unfolding his arms and facing Sasuke full on. "You're so God Damn picky, so God Damn frigid, so God Damn ARGH!" he screamed as he tightly gripped his yellow locks at the last 'God Damn' statement.
"Now, that Naruto, was quite intelligent," Sasuke said facing Naruto with equal anger, but greater sarcasm per usual. "How about you tell what's really bothering you, and I'll do all I can to make sure that you are happy and fucking joyful!" he added with his biting tone that was reserved for screaming matches as such.
Naruto gripped the blanket between his nails and palms, at least it offered minimal protection for his skin against his rage, "Well how about you do that then?!?"
Sasuke set his arms across his chest, "Idiot…" he insulted. "You haven't told me what was wrong. How can I make you the happiest fucking Dobe on the face of the earth if you don't tell me what's wrong?" He bit his chapped lips to keep himself from yelling again. Sasuke really, really, hated to yell, especially when the risk of others hearing him was higher if his voice was louder.
"You're the genius aren't you?" Naruto asked. "You figure it out." This honestly was to fill the answer time that the two seemed adamant to keep. He had no idea what was wrong with him. Every little thing just seemed to bother him.
"It doesn't matter how smart you are," Sasuke started and Naruto could practically feel the insult beating him on the back of the head. "You'd have to be a total idiot to understand your logic…or lack of it."
Naruto threw a scowl at the Uchiha, not bothering to hide his anger, "You are such an asshole Sasuke, you know this right?"
Sasuke shrugged, not caring what Naruto thought either way, "And you are an idiot."
One can only take so many assaults on their intelligence in one day, and Naruto just reached his limit and a snake can only stand so much prodding before it must attack to defend itself. He jumped on Sasuke, effectively knocking the both of them to the floor for the second time since they got home. With a firm grip on Sasuke's shirt Naruto lifted the Uchiha to face him.
"Can you stop for insulting me for one second?" Naruto growled through his clenched teeth.
"You were insulting me too you idiot!" Sasuke pointed out as he struggled to get an opening to flip Naruto over.
He found that Naruto's legs were largely dormant, not defending or in the mix of limbs. Slowly, Sasuke raised his right leg to his chest, so that maybe he could kick Naruto off of him. He got his leg up and placed his foot only a mere centimeter away from Naruto's chest, and through all this, Naruto was still ranting about Sasuke.
"And you know what? I'm tired of you-" Before he could finish he was kicked forcefully against the wall of the bedroom.
Sasuke got up from the ground and raced over to Naruto before the resounding 'thud' from his meeting with the wall had worn off. He grabbed Naruto's shirt and opened the door, then proceeded to drag him out of their room.
"HEY! Let me go!!" he demanded, kicking his legs and trying to grab at Sasuke's tan shorts.
Sasuke stopped for a second and stooped down to Naruto's face, "No, I am tired of dealing with you and your fucking mood swings."
For a second Naruto just looked up at Sasuke and blinked at him, completely stunned by his response, then when the amazement passed he was back to kicking and screaming. Sasuke let out an aggravated breath, showing his obvious hatred for this chore. His coal eyes searched the hall way, Sakura's door was closed, but no sound was heard from her room, the bathroom was out, there was too much in there that Naruto could get into. Ah! An open door!
Sasuke sped up his pace a little, and once he reached the door and tossed Naruto through the threshold and closed the door really fast. He slid down the pale white door to land on the hard wood floor. A small breath of completion slid out of Sasuke's lips as he barely began to relax. Heavy lids covered his cold eyes, it was as if he could fall asleep right there in the hall way…and then Naruto began to poke his butt from under the door.
"Oi!" came the muffled demand. "Let me out!" Each word was punctuated with a poke just to make sure Sasuke was in fact listening to the order. Sasuke's fingers formed a fist and he pounded down on each finger Naruto dared to poke him with.
"BASTARD!!" On Naruto's side of the door, it looked more like he was a cat trying to attack a string rather than boss around his 'friend'. His face laid on its side so that he could get maximum viewing of the male that smashed his fingers. "You…" he pointed at Sasuke to get his point across. "I'm gonna fucking kill you!"
"Naruto!" until he heard the voice Naruto was sure he was alone in the room, apparently this was not the case. Iruka put a book face down on his shared bed and looked at Naruto with the fatherly authority he always managed to uphold even in the grittiest of situations.
The boy in question turned his head and sheepishly sat up. He crossed his legs and put his hands in the natural hole created by sitting like this. Iruka walked over to Naruto, the boy's behavior since they returned was a little troubling. Since the chunin knew nothing of how he was acting in the rain country (the only one that knew anything about that phase in the mission pertaining to Naruto was the ever tight lipped Sasuke) he had to base all of this knowledge on the fact that Naruto seemed more uptight and irritable and less like his carefree, reckless self. To say the least it worried him, but saying something about it would drive Naruto away, so he kept quiet.
"Watch your language Naruto," Iruka reminded as he sat down in front of the blond teen.
"I'm sorry Iruka-sensei," Naruto apologized looking at his twiddling toes. "It's just that Sasuke's being such a-" Naruto's voice rose slightly and his eyebrows knit together in anger as he dove for the crack between the door and the floor. "FUCKING BASTARD POKED ME!!"
"Naruto!" Iruka yelled.
"But Iruka-sensei! He poked me!" Naruto justified as he sat back against the door.
"That's no excuse Naruto," Iruka pointed out as he narrowed his eyes to make himself seem more authoritative. It worked; Naruto buried his hands back into the space between his legs and the floor.
"I'm sorry Iruka-sensei," he apologized in earnest this time. "I've just been really frustrated lately," Naruto explained trying to find something to blame this pent up anger on, even if he wasn't too sure what was causing it.
"Well, tell me what's wrong Naruto," Iruka pressed, he felt he was going to get some pieces of the puzzle that were missing, and this would hopefully help him solve the puzzle that was Sasuke's and Naruto's relationship.
"It's nothing Iruka-sensei," Naruto replied knowing that it was a lie, but unwilling to burden his beloved father figure with his daily hardships.
"But it must be something if you and Sasuke are fighting this much," Iruka told him as he tried to get a better look at Naruto's face.
Naruto screwed up his face, "Isn't that how it usually is? I mean ever since we went to the academy?"
"Well, yes Naruto," Iruka shrugged and looked a little to the side before looking at his 'son' again. "But lately you two have been really intense. Especially you."
"Argh…" Naruto grunted in frustration, with just a few words Iruka seemed to work his defenses down to nothing. If he knew what was wrong with him he wouldn't have snapped at Sasuke so suddenly, or have been such a jerk to him when he did nothing to deserve it. "I just keep getting mad for no reason!" he grabbed his hair to show his inner turmoil. "I have no idea what's wrong with me!"
Iruka felt like he hit gold, he knew Naruto's personality more than anyone, with this new knowledge he could help the poor kid figure out his weird mind, "Well, what's been going on with you and Sasuke?"
For a second Naruto's mouth hung open as if he was trying to form the right sentences, then he looked at Iruka incredulously, "A few minutes ago he called me an idiot, he kicked my chest," he paused for a moment of thought. "Do we really need to go through all this? We're gonna be here a while if we do have to."
His sensei shook his head, "No, not that. I mean before everyone got to the new apartment," he urged trying to delve into the root of the problem.
"Three years ago…" Naruto sounded one hundred percent serious as he began his tale about how Sasuke left for sound.
"No, a little bit more recently Naruto," Iruka corrected before the kid got too ahead of himself.
"Oh…" Naruto realized. He put his palm on the side of his face as he tried to think. "At the hospital in Rain Sasuke was acting really nice to me. Then when we got into the apartment it was like some one just whacked him with a dose of reality…" he explained with a slightly wishful look in his eyes. "Like Sasuke would hold me when we slept, he would talk to me like I had some form of intelligence, you know things like that."
Iruka nodded to keep the boy talking, though the part about Sasuke holding him made Iruka think a little about the dynamics of their complex existence. If Sasuke was holding onto Naruto when they slept, where did it leave them? Iruka could understand how that would be confusing for Naruto, after all that affection from the Uchiha he might have expected it when they got back here and Sasuke just wasn't delivering.
"And then when we were in the Hokage Tower 'guest room'," he put quotes around guest room to emphasize its stale and uncomfortable atmosphere, not that Iruka would know all that. "I asked Sasuke if I could sleep on his bed with him, like we had back in Rain, and I told him that I would get him out of jail no matter what it took," this he punctuated with a snort. "Looks like my mission was shot, eh Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka laughed a little as encouragement, but kept his comments to the side in order to get more information. He ran his fingers through the ponytail on top of his head, since his hair wasn't down there was no other way for him to occupy his hand. That would have to do.
"Then…then I don't know what I was thinking," Naruto admitted shaking his head. Instead of his bright blue eyes looking at Iruka, gauging his reactions, they were too busy worrying over the floor, searching for a reason behind his anger and behind his actions both in the past and the present.
"Why do you say that Naruto?" his teacher asked with concern evident on his face.
"I…I," the blond looked around the room, as if some one could have been in there at that very moment and they would destroy him if they heard the crime he was about to admit to. Once he was satisfied with his 'inspection' of the room he continued, "I kissed Sasuke…"
The whispered honesty hit Iruka hard…What was he supposed to do with this information?! He felt like he should be reaching Father-Mode and wringing Sasuke's neck because Naruto was distressed about something like that. But, he also knew that if he did that Naruto would for sure give him the silent treatment, not that his 'son's' well being came before their conversations, but there was no other reason for throttling Sasuke for nothing else aside from stressing Naruto out because of their 'moment'.
"Plus the fact that we failed the bell exercise is really getting to me," Naruto added, and Iruka knew that he was trying to redirect the conversation to a 'safer' subject. It wasn't like he was going to force Naruto to talk about kissing Sasuke (No, those were details Iruka didn't need to know about…) since he had nothing to say to help comfort him.
Iruka let out a small sigh, too much information in too little a space of time, "Naruto, you're letting everything pile up again." This was his diagnosis and he knew it was true. The boy was letting everything sit in his chest; add up and eventually he was going to let it all go. Sasuke was just the one who was around when his chest couldn't handle it anymore. "You and Sasuke need to talk about…" Iruka swallowed down his Father senses and continued. "Your kiss and about what happened at Rain. That is the only way you two will get passed it and continue a somewhat normal friendship."
Naruto's face brightened up, Iruka was right! If they somehow got it all out there in the open, maybe then they could get passed it and be a little more functional. Now, don't hold your breath, the two of them will never be completely functional in the 'normal' sense. That is too strange, not to mention the fact that they practically need to fight makes it difficult to be totally functional.
It wasn't a second after the realization before Naruto was turned around and opening the door from his sitting position on the floor. His smile was broad and bright, as he scooted out of the way of Sasuke, the falling tower. Apparently Sasuke hadn't anticipated Naruto opening the door so suddenly, so he fell backwards into the room. Naruto had moved out of the way of his head, finding it much more satisfying to see Sasuke hit the floor. Needless to say, Naruto laughed at him for being so strange.
Blue eyes surveyed Sasuke, why did he have his pinky up? That had to be stranger than falling backwards. When Naruto looked at Sasuke, he could see the anger fuming under his skin, but chose to look in the hallway to see if Sasuke was…making faces…at people. Sure enough, the silver haired jounin was leaning against the wall across from his room. He gave a small wave of acknowledgement to Naruto, which was returned with a sunny wave from his pupil.
It had been so simple, so in-his-face, that Naruto completely missed the solution, and now with the problem solved, his chest felt a million pounds lighter. He let his eyes wonder back down to Sasuke, who was still on the ground trying not to look back at Naruto, and smiled genuinely at him. Sasuke turned his face to the side but still couldn't help but look back at Naruto and let his face soften, for a split second a barely-there smile existed on Sasuke's less than perfect lips, and Naruto's heart stopped.
"Hey everyone!" Ino greeted loudly. "Me and Sakura just finished setting the table, dinner's ready!"
"We'll be there in a second Ino," Kakashi assured her with a small nod of his head. He walked over to his charges and extended a hand to Naruto.
Naruto accepted the hand and stood next to his sensei before reaching his hand out to Sasuke. When the hand was offered to Sasuke it was as if he seriously thought about just slapping that tan hand away from his face but grumbled (with the absence of a frown) something incoherent as he took it to help pull his body to an upright position. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke looked back to see Kakashi help Iruka up, since both knew that they would follow when they were both standing. Ino smiled at them in her sassy I-know-what's-going-on way, but said nothing to ruin the calm of the situation.
"I hope you guys like this dinner," she offered conversation, knowing that Sasuke wouldn't take part in it, save for a few looks sent her way. "Sakura and I worked hard to make sure it was good."
They all arrived in the dining room and took their usual spots at a table that was both modest and decorated with a meal that didn't lack color or visual excellence. As Kakashi slid into his seat across from a certain scarred chunin he smirked beneath his mask when Sasuke whispered something to Naruto before he slid a few pieces of carrot onto his plate. Iruka glanced at them and then back at Kakashi; he nodded his head with a kind smile as if to say that his suspicions were correct. One-hundred and ten percent correct.
"Why do you think they don't bother to hide it from everyone?" Kakashi asked referring to the two students who scooted their chairs closer to each other instead of away. Naruto's hand brushed Sasuke's and he didn't bother to pull it away until his throat was conveniently dry and in need of refreshment. Sasuke on his part looked a little dissatisfied with the ending of contact didn't say or do anything to remedy it.
After a second of silent contemplation Iruka finally looked back at Kakashi with a look of nostalgia evident in his eyes, "They were never told otherwise."
Now understand that Kakashi and Iruka could go on forever on the subject of nature versus nurture but they both know the reason why Sasuke and Naruto never thought to hide the fact that their most important person was in fact a male was because no one had been there to tell them that here in Konoha, men marry women, have many children who either become little ninjas like their fathers (or mothers) or become citizens to help contribute to the village's ever growing economy, and then retire after many many missions completed and many many miles walked for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. No one had been there to give them any sort of normal guidance like that, whether the reason was death or loneliness to begin with, so they grew up learning to take things as they came and for them it worked, it worked well. The only reason Kakashi and Iruka hid their blatant love for each other was because they were trained to not show emotion in the battlefield. But having to live without parents to tell you men and women loved each other was something both were familiar with. There was so much of their own past projecting itself at the dinner table, they couldn't help but fall into memory lane when watching it all play out with their dysfunctional students.
"Too familiar, eh Iruka?" Kakashi wasn't really asking anything he was merely leaving the question out there for Iruka to hear. He knew that Iruka loved words, loved listening, loved everything about vocalizing, which is what made the younger male a great teacher and a great lover. He wrapped a foot around Iruka's slowly and rubbed his leg slightly to show his appreciation for Iruka's love and little quirks.
"Yeah…" he sighed out contentedly. Iruka discreetly looked at them for a second and then at his plate before he began to eat the delectable meal in front of him. It was going to be interesting to see this all play out in the end, Iruka decided as he ate a few vegetables.
The rest of dinner passed in a pleasant blur of reminiscing, both with teammates and lovers, compliments to the chef(s) and sneaky glances cast from the corner of curious eyes. Though Sasuke participated only in the glances, he still enjoyed the feeling of being a real home, with real people who were glad to have him. It was then that he decided that Naruto finding him had been a way for fate to tell him that there was something more for him than killing his older brother and avenging the clan that was destroyed all those years ago. It was only after this that he mentally kicked himself for allowing Neji's strange fate-bent way of thinking to still stick in his head after all these years…
End of Not that hard to See
Preview of the Next Chapter: Sakura sat cross legged across from Sasuke and Naruto, trying to mentally figure out what would be sturdy enough to not break but give the two of them the flexability to train easily with her. Handcuffs seemed cliche and would undoubtably hurt after a while of training, and wire would cut into their skin. She would really have to give this one some serious thought if they were going to get anywhere on the first day of her training plan...
A/N: Yes, yes, I know the previews haven't matched up for many chapters now...but I'm thinking of it more as a teaser, I might not write what I write on those things but it will be somewhat implied I guess you could say. Oh yeah and I wanted to point out that Naruto's pent up anger, and then letting it all go was kinda based off of my lil sister's way of dealing with stress, she doesn't until she has to. lol.