Disclaimer: K. Masashi's bitches.
When morning came to Naruto on December twenty-third, he knew it was time to do something. His brain had barely woken completely from its slumber before he opened tired blue eyes and remembered his decision from the day before. On how he couldn't do it anymore. Juggling his best friend and his boyfriend—it couldn't be done.
Not without lying.
Not without hurting one of them.
That probably explained his reluctance to get out of bed that morning. But he knew he couldn't put it off any longer. He had to tell them, and if he didn't do it before Christmas... he felt like something would just go wrong.
His cell phone rang eight times that morning, followed by three calls to his landline before finally dying out. He knew it was Kiba—no one else was that annoying when a phonecall wasn't answered—but he wanted to talk to Sasuke first. He wasn't sure why, maybe because he'd rather know if it was worth risking telling Kiba. Depending on Sasuke's reaction, he might not even need to tell the brunet. There'd be nothing to tell.
It was almost one-thirty by the time he exited his bedroom, having taken his time in the bathroom.
Yawning, he walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, seeing a note on the table for him. Picking it up, he read his mother's messy scrawl, and deciphered enough to know they were out shopping again. Probably his mother trying to mooch more presents off his dad. He had to chuckle slightly. She was so ridiculous sometimes, but that was what made her so amazing.
Sitting down, he grabbed himself a bowl of cereal, and munched on it slowly, knowing he was procrastinating the inevitable, but finding no other option. He didn't want to do what he was about to do, but he knew he had to.
Sighing once his bowl was empty, he put it in the sink, then moved back towards the stairs so he could go get dressed. He took his time choosing the right pair of jeans, and the perfect shirt. Again, procrastinating. Finally dressed and out of excuses, he trudged defeatedly back down the stairs and pulled on his jacket. Checking that his phone and wallet were in his pocket—and half hoping they weren't so he'd have an excuse to run back upstairs—he sighed when they were, and then opened the front door.
He could see Sasuke shovelling his driveway across the street and sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and beginning to make his way over through the snow. He frowned slightly when he reached the bottom of his own driveway, noticing the build and height were slightly off, denoting that it wasn't Sasuke. It took Naruto a second to realize it was Itachi.
"Hey," he called out, the older Uchiha stopping to turn and look at him. "Where's your brother? Isn't he on shovelling duty for the holidays?" He smiled slightly.
"Sasuke left," was the monotonous reply, Itachi turning back to what he was doing.
Naruto froze at the bottom of the driveway, blinking, confused. "Left? What? Why?"
"Because of you."
The blond's head snapped back, and he pulled one hand out of his pocket to point his finger at himself. "Me? What did I do?"
"You failed to mention your boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Now Naruto was really confused. "What boyfriend?"
Itachi stopped shovelling to regard him, seeming to try and determine if he was legitimately confused, or just acting. Deciding he was telling the truth, Itachi snorted and started shovelling again.
"You haven't read today's paper, have you?"
"No, why?"
Itachi didn't say a word, he just motioned the front of the Uzumaki household.
Confused, Naruto turned and jogged back across the street, snatching up the newspaper from his porch and unfolding it. Nothing on the front page, nothing on the second. It wasn't until he got to the business page that all the colour drained from his face.
"Oh my God."
How was this his fucking life? The day he decided to tell Sasuke, the fucking news got hold of the fucking picture Naruto had tried to stop. Apparently, his little outburst had caused the couple to wonder what the big deal was, and now here it was, in full colour, Kiba and Naruto making out—uncomfortably—at the club over a week ago.
"No, no, no..." Naruto turned and bolted back for Itachi, who was still calmly shovelling snow. "No! No, this isn't—it's not what it looks like!"
"Really? Because it looks to me like you and the heir to the Inuzuka corporation are exchanging saliva." Itachi glanced up at him, and the usual amusement in the other's eyes was completely gone. Obviously, Naruto had hurt his brother to an unacceptable degree. The other even started walking back towards the garage with the shovel, turning his back on Naruto.
"Wait, you don't understand!" Naruto grabbed his arm and yanked him back. "Yes, I kissed Kiba while I was still getting to know Sasuke, but this is nothing!" He slapped his hand against the picture. "Kiba is my best friend, I've known him since kindergarten. He's straighter than a fucking arrow! My dad works for his mom, we've literally been friends forever, and I was going to tell both Sasuke and Kiba about the other but I just—I know how crazy people get, and I didn't know how they'd react so I was scared. I didn't want to lose one of them because of this, and I know that's girly and fucked up, but Kiba's my best fucking friend, and I—" He cut himself off, licked his lips, then threw his arms out in defeat. "I love—I love Sasuke. I do. I love him. And I was going to tell him. Kiba isn't my boyfriend, he's not even bisexual, we only made out once so people would stop hitting on him. That's it."
He knew he'd babbled. He knew each word out of his mouth was probably making things worse for him, but he had to say it all. He had to get it out, and make Itachi understand what was going on. He'd never wanted this, had never wanted to hurt Sasuke, or Kiba. And now he'd fucked everything up. Sasuke was fucking gone.
Naruto stared at Itachi, while the other stared at him. Then, the Uchiha turned and threw the shovel into the garage, the metal end clanging loudly against the concrete. He pulled out his cellphone and dialled a number, Naruto cocking an eyebrow, and opening his mouth to speak when Itachi spoke first.
"Yes, this is Itachi Uchiha. When's the next flight to Toronto?"
Now Naruto was even more confused. He watched Itachi scowl and then glance at his watch before nodding.
"I'd like to book a seat. Last name Uzumaki, first name Naruto."
"Whoa, what?" the blond demanded, completely dumbfounded.
"Yes, roundtrip," Itachi continued, completely ignoring Naruto. "I'd also like to book a return flight for Sasuke Uchiha. I can email all the details within the next ten minutes. Yes, return flight for the evening of the twenty-fourth." There was a pause. "I'm sure the flight is full, but I'm willing to have them put in any class. First, business or economy. Just get it done. I expect everything to be in order by the time I arrive."
He hung up the phone, and Naruto just stared at him with his mouth hanging open.
"Are you insane? I can't just fly back across the fucking world to get Sasuke!"
"You can, and you will," Itachi informed him, ensuring his tone left no room for discussion. "I'm not doing this for you—though I do owe you a favour, and like I said, you never know when you might need a favour from me. Regardless, I'm doing this for my mother. Because she spent all morning crying over Sasuke leaving right before Christmas. You screwed this up," he pointed his finger at Naruto, "now you're going to fix it. If Sasuke isn't on that return flight with you, don't bother getting on the plane."
"Shit!" Naruto ran both hands through his hair, his mind completely boggled. Was Itachi fucking serious? "You actually think I can fix this?"
"No, you're too stupid to, but I'm hoping my brother is more idiotic than you are." Itachi was frowning down at his BlackBerry, typing something out. Presumably sending the promised information. He glanced up after a few seconds. "Why are you still here? Get your passport. Your flight leaves in forty-five minutes."
Okay, now he knew Itachi was insane. Because it would take him that long to even get to the airport.
Nevertheless, he turned and bolted back towards his house, wrenching the front door open and rushing up the stairs without bothering to close it. He tore his room apart looking for his backpack, shoving a pair of socks, some boxers, a shirt, his deodorant and toothbrush, and whatever three small books that were within reach, not even glancing at the titles. He found his passport under a pile of papers on the desk, and then made sure he had his keys, phone and wallet before rushing back down the stairs.
Grabbing the sheet his mother had written on, he hastily flipped it over and grabbed a pen, scrawling out a note that merely said he would be back for Christmas no matter what, and he'd call them when he could, and not to worry. Throwing the pen down on the table, he ran out of the house, turning to lock the front door just in time for loud music and an even louder engine to be heard coming down the street.
Perfect timing, he thought to himself. He needed a fast car to get him to the airport, and even if he didn't drive like Kiba, he could make it in the other's car.
"Dude!" Kiba screamed from his car, the roof down despite the weather, and the music cutting off abruptly when he turned the car off. "Did you see this?" He was waving the newspaper in the air while Naruto ensured the door was locked before making his way hurriedly down the driveway. "Did you fucking see this? My mom is gonna freak! She's gonna fucking kill me! J'suis mort! Mort!"
"Move over," the blond ordered, wrenching open the driver's side door and tossing his backpack into the back. Kiba just stared at him.
"What?"
"This is your fault!" Naruto exclaimed, shoving at Kiba's shoulder to get him moving. He saw Itachi locking his own front door and hurrying down the driveway. It made sense he'd be coming, too. He had to pay. "Move over!"
"Jesus, fucknut!" Kiba raised his hands to cover his face when Naruto started punching him in the arm. "All right! All right, fuck! I'm moving! Calm down!" Kiba climbed over the middle of the car and got into the passenger seat, Naruto taking his spot behind the wheel and Itachi getting into the back seat, slamming the door. The blond barely waited for everyone to buckle up before flooring it, the tires spinning on the packed snow briefly before the car finally shot forward.
"Holy shit!" Kiba shouted, grabbing the dash with one hand and struggling to get his seatbelt buckled with the other. "What's going on? Who are you?" he demanded of Itachi, turning to look at him, then looking at Naruto. "Why are you driving so fast? Someone explain what's happening!"
"Shut up!" Naruto couldn't think with Kiba freaking out beside him. This wasn't the time to freak out. They were in a hurry, it wasn't the apocalypse. And Kiba's tension was starting to get to him, he just wanted the brunet to shut up.
"Putain de merde," Kiba whispered, then slapped the dash angrily. "Merde! Con! Tabarnak!"
"Fuck you and your tabarnak!" Naruto shouted, pushing at random buttons to get the roof up. It was fucking freezing, and it was making it twice as hard to hear anything with all the wind rushing past their ears.
Kiba obviously understood what he was looking for, because he hit a button and within a minute, the car was much quieter, the brunet included.
"I'm sorry," Naruto said after a few minutes of silence. "We're just in a hurry. I have to get to the airport right now."
"You could've just said so, you know," Kiba grumbled, his arms crossed and looking out the window. "Instead of being a dick."
"I didn't have time. My flight leaves in forty-five minutes."
"Flight?" Kiba turned to look at him, confused. "Where are you going?"
"Chasing my insignificant little brother across the world," was the drawled reply.
Naruto just glared at Itachi in the rear-view mirror, but Kiba turned around to look at him, then understanding dawned and he looked back at Naruto.
"Your boyfriend? What happened?"
"He saw the paper," Naruto muttered, hands clenching around the wheel.
"Yeah, speaking of which, momma's gonna fuckin' kill me, dude."
"Oh, QQ you," the blond snapped.
"Hey, fuck you!" Kiba pointed an angry finger at him. "It's your fault! You're the one who wanted to fucking kiss! And you made a big deal of the guy taking a picture! Now she'll know I was in England and I'm gonna be fucking murdered!"
"You'll be fine!" Naruto insisted. "Just let me worry about one thing at a time, okay? Sasuke fucking went home because of the picture, and I'm just gonna try and explain what happened."
"You're flying back across the world to explain..." Kiba trailed off. "Are your parents paying for this?"
"I am," Itachi informed him, making Kiba turn to look at him.
"Yeah, who are you again?"
"Itachi Uchiha."
The second the name left the other's mouth, Naruto wanted to strangle him.
Kiba instantly tensed, and slowly turned to look at his friend. The blond kept his eyes on the road, but he at least had the decency to press his lips together.
"Uchiha? You've been dating an Uchiha behind my back?"
"Guess you didn't guess right, huh?" Naruto asked in a low voice, glancing in the side mirror and changing lanes.
"No, I guessed right! I knew it was competition but—an Uchiha? Are you shitting me? Putain, maman vas me tuer pour ça et c'est même pas ma faute, comment as-tu pu faire ça sens me le dire? On est—"
"This is why I didn't wanna tell you!" Naruto shouted, turning to look at Kiba before facing the road once more. "I knew you'd overreact! Yeah, your parents own two rivalling companies, but you know what, you're my best friend, and he's my boyfriend, and you're both just going to have to suck it up and grow up because I'm not going to be forced to choose between you two because you're both fucking idiots!"
He could feel Kiba glaring at him angrily, but didn't say anything further, breathing hard instead after his little tirade. He knew this was going to happen. He knew Kiba was going to flip, and Sasuke probably was, too. He just fucking knew—
"You don't get it, do you?" Kiba finally said in a low voice. "I don't care who you date, Naruto. I don't care that it's an Uchiha. I just can't believe you didn't tell me. That you didn't think I could find out without having a fit."
Naruto glanced at him when he heard the hurt in the other's voice, but Kiba was staring out the window again.
"I told you at McDonalds when we went shopping that I was sure I knew what was up, and I was sad you thought so little of me. Now I'm even more depressed, because you actually thought I'd give a shit who you dated."
"But you just said—"
"Do you know French?" Kiba snapped, turning to look at him. "No. What I said was that momma is gonna kill me for this, and it's not even my fault. And how could you do this without even talking to me? I thought we were friends. Do you have any idea how momma's gonna react if she finds out about this before I get the chance to tell her? That my best friend is dating an Uchiha? That her vice-president's son is dating the son of her biggest competitor?"
Naruto didn't know what to say. He'd known it was a bad idea keeping it a secret, but he'd thought it would be better. Now, it was just proving to be worse. Sasuke'd felt betrayed and bailed on him, and Kiba was so hurt and insulted he wasn't even bothering to swear in French. He had the same pained look on his face that he usually did when he spoke about his dad. Like he'd just been wronged in the most horrible of ways.
"I didn't—look, I'm sorry, okay?" Naruto turned to look at him, then glanced back at the road. "I wanted to tell you, but all right, yes, I screwed up. I thought you would be a fucking dick about it, because he's an Uchiha. And I was wrong, and I'm sorry. And if I fix this with him, I'll let you meet him, I promise."
"Fine," Kiba whispered, slouching more in his seat and looking out the window.
Naruto pressed his lips together and shook his head. Then, he smacked the steering wheel angrily. "Fuck. This is so fucked up. I can't believe Sasuke left."
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have been all 'crouching tiger, hidden panther.'"
"Dragon," Itachi corrected.
"Whatever!" Kiba turned to glare at him. "What are you even doing here?"
"Aside from enjoying the show, I'm paying for Naruto's ticket."
Snorting, Kiba faced forward again, scowling. "I don't like you."
"You're one of few, then, I'm rather good at charming people," Itachi informed him.
"Yeah? Well good luck, cause I'm never gonna like you."
Naruto glanced at Itachi in the rear-view mirror, and frowned when he saw him smirking. That was when he recalled something Sasuke had said about Itachi, and the way he liked challenges. He winced slightly, hoping Itachi wasn't taking an interest, because Mrs. Inuzuka would definitely kill him for that.
Rounding a corner sharply, he slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car with his bag, yelling a thanks over his shoulder at Kiba for the ride and slamming the door. He'd expected Itachi to follow, but the Uchiha merely tossed him his credit card and a sheet of paper, telling him to call if there were any problems before moving into the front seat of Kiba's car.
Naruto didn't bother waiting around to see what was going on. He booked it towards the Air Canada counter, praying he'd made it on time.
His parents really wouldn't be happy if he missed Christmas...
Kiba watched Naruto bolt out of the car so fast that he almost did it while it was still moving. His mouth opened to call after him, but the other was already yelling goodbye and waving over his head, credit card in hand after Itachi called after him to phone him if there were any problems.
The brunet was just dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Naruto was flying all the way back to Canada to convince his boyfriend to come back to England for Christmas. What kind of world did they live in that made that okay to do the day before Christmas Eve?
Shaking his head and raking his hand through his hair, he let out a sigh and started to shift back over to the driver's side when the door opened and Itachi suddenly took a seat there before Kiba could. He shut the door and then buckled himself in, Kiba staring at him as if he were an alien.
Naruto driving his car, that was hard for him to accept, but the blond was his friend, and on some platonic level, he loved the guy. But this? This? No. An Uchiha was not going to be driving his car.
"Um, you're in my spot," he said coldly, narrowing his eyes at Itachi.
The older man turned to look at him, smirked, and then shifted gears before gliding smoothly out of the spot Naruto had crudely parked them in.
"Uh, this is auto-theft. Mixed in with kidnapping since I'm still in the car. This is my car."
"So you're really all right with Sasuke and Naruto dating?" Itachi inquired conversationally. Kiba just stared at him, dumbfounded, and stomped one foot against the bottom of his car angrily.
"Dude! C'est ma voiture! Elle m'appartient! À moi! Stop the car!"
Itachi just ignored him, turning back onto the highway, and going so slowly, Kiba was sure his car was going to break down from the abuse. It was used to going fast. Going fifty in this car was just criminal. Criminal!
"Well?"
Growling angrily, Kiba crossed his arms, slouched down in his seat, and glared out the window. "No, I don't fucking care! He's my best friend, and who he dates is his business as long as they don't impede on my ability to hang out with him. Now stop the car!"
"I have to say, I'm impressed with how well you took it. I've known from the beginning, of course, that he knew you. Unlike my brother, I read the paper, so that first day when I saw you at his house, I knew who you were. You were both obviously friendly, but I wasn't sure about your relationship past that because I didn't know enough about either of you. When I saw the paper, well, you can imagine what I assumed."
"Didn't anyone ever tell you that to assume makes an ass out of you and me?" Kiba asked dryly.
Itachi smirked at that, glancing in the side mirror and changing lanes. The speed was making Kiba's skin crawl. If they didn't start going faster, he was going to spontaneously combust.
"Can you speed up a little bit?"
"Is there something wrong with my driving?" Itachi inquired.
"Uh, yeah. You're driving like an old granny."
The Uchiha chuckled slightly, but at least had the decency to speed them up so they were going eighty now instead of sixty. Seriously, the speed limit was sixty, who actually followed that?
"Why were you both kissing?"
"What?" Kiba demanded, his tone absolutely arctic. He did not want to be having this conversation with the son of the head of the Uchiha corporation. What if he was spying? Asking him lame questions to start with before moving to the big guns?
"In the picture that was taken. Why were you kissing?"
"Because we went to a gay bar because I hate going to straight ones with Naruto. And guys kept buying me drinks, so we kissed for like, half a second to make them stop. He's the only person I trust enough to kiss. Otherwise, I wouldn't get near another gay man with a ten foot pole."
"Is that so?" Itachi asked, smirking more.
Kiba eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he was making fun of him. "Hey man, I'm straighter than an arrow. I'm so straight I make straight guys look crooked."
"And yet there's now a picture of you making out with another guy in every newspaper in town."
Groaning, the brunet covered his face with both hands. His mother was going to kill him when she found out he'd crossed over to England on more than one occasion. He was surprised his phone wasn't already ringing. When it did, he didn't want to answer it.
Did he care about Naruto and Sasuke? Again, no. Was he upset Naruto had lied to him, and hadn't trusted him enough to admit he was dating Sasuke Uchiha? Yeah, quite a bit, actually. The only consolation he had was that Sasuke had been lied to, as well, and hopefully having hurt them both was enough of a punishment for Naruto.
Though he doubted the blond would fly across the world for him. Then again, he wouldn't be able to afford it...
"Does your dad know?"
Hey, if Itachi was going to ask questions, so was Kiba.
"About what?" Itachi inquired.
"About Naruto. How he's the son of the Vice-president of my mom's company."
"I'm sure he does, my father does his homework, but we Uchihas understand how to separate our private lives from our businesses. Him and Minato have actually been going out for drinks together a lot. And my mother and Kushina get along incredibly well." Itachi glanced at him briefly, smirking a little. "Just because my father and your mother are rivals doesn't mean they can't also be friends."
"You don't know my mom," Kiba said with a snort. "There's no way this is going to go over well. She's going to be pissed if she finds out from anyone but me."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah."
"Hm."
They drove along in silence for a little while until Kiba frowned and turned around slightly to look over his shoulder. He then turned to Itachi and pointed behind them with his thumb. "Uh, you missed the turn."
"We're not going back to my house."
"We're not?" Kiba asked, confused. "Where—where are we going?"
"I don't know. I was thinking we could catch a ferry to Ireland or something."
The colour drained from Kiba's face. He was kidding, right? "What?"
"Well, you've been coming from France, so I figured he could see some other part of Europe while we're here." He turned to smirk at Kiba. "I'm not very fond of Christmas, anyway, I figure this can be my present to myself before the actual day."
"Uh, quoi?" He wasn't saying what Kiba thought he was saying, was he? Because the brunet was going to freak out in a second. Hidan and Kakuzu had no idea where he was aside from that he'd left the yacht to go to Naruto's. But he wasn't there anymore, so if Itachi wanted to kidnap him—well, he was already way ahead of everyone.
While trying not to panic, Kiba jumped when his phone rang loudly, vibrating against his thigh. He pulled it out hurriedly, hoping to get some help, but stopped when he saw who it was.
His mother.
He'd rather be stuck with this psycho of an Uchiha for a month than answer this call.
"Is that your mother?"
"Yeah," Kiba said in a small voice, staring at the screen.
He let out a yelp when the phone was snatched from his grip and flipped open. Before he could say anything—before he could even decide what to say—it was at Itachi's ear, and the Uchiha was speaking.
To his mother.
To his mother!
Oh, he was fucking dead!
"Hello Mrs. Inuzuka. Don't speak, just listen. I'm sure by now you've seen the papers, and have seen the picture of Naruto and Kiba making out."
"Why would you tell her that?" Kiba shouted. "What if she was calling to ask what kind of cake I liked?" Unlikely, but one could hope.
Itachi just ignored him, anyway.
"Yes, your son has been spending some time in England over the past few days, which is really good luck for me, because had Naruto not been across the street, I never would have had the pleasure of meeting him. Today was our first official meeting, but nevertheless, I've been interested in your son since first seeing him."
"Oh my fucking God." Kiba covered his face with both hands. This couldn't be happening. First his best friend is dating an Uchiha, now an Uchiha was driving his car, and fucking kidnapping him. Fuck!
... Was it accurate to call it kidnapping if he was an adult?
Either way, he was being taken against his will!
God, now that sounded like rape! This wasn't going to end well, he could feel it.
"We've dropped Naruto off at the airport just recently, and I've decided I'm going to be taking your son for a little boat trip for the next few days. He'll be back by Christmas, I'll promise you that, but not before I've had my way with him."
"Oh God!" Kiba shouted. "Stop it! What the fuck is wrong with you?" His mother was going to murder him. He was a dead man. A fucking dead man!
Hopefully she'd take Itachi out first.
"On that note, I bid you good evening, and promise to take care of your son. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out who I am by calling Minato or Kushina, and asking who lives across the street, but I can make it easier for you since I have nothing to hide nor fear."
"Oh, please don't!" Kiba grabbed at the phone, but Itachi managed to keep it out of his reach, switching it to his other ear. "Please don't!"
"My name is Itachi Uchiha. Oh, and don't bother calling the English police. My father owns them. Good bye."
He hung up the phone.
And then tossed it out the window.
Kiba spent the next hour of the trip with his face pressed up against the glass at the back of the car, as if staring hard enough would force his phone to follow.