Well, I didn't quite get the response I was looking for...I was looking for a few more reviews than normal, but I got less than ever before, I think. Was it that bad? I'll try to make this chapter better, I promise. Oh, and Tobi is actually Obito in this story. Not Madara. –Bottlecaps.
P.S. ItaNaru in this chapter. Not NaruIta. I'm going to switch it up every now and then. "Hello" by Evanescence. (It must be fairly obvious by now that Evanescence is my favorite band. Amy Lee has the most beautiful voice out of all female lead singers out there.)
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sakura...well...Sakura would be from some other unknown village and the entire anime would consist of hot yaoi scenes.
Warnings: sexual content
Chapter 8, Part 1. Sunshine
The sun shone brightly down upon the traveling trio with all its might. Naruto found himself immensely enjoying the warmth of the yellow rays after nearly seven months of stormy weather. It was approaching the end of summer and he felt better than ever as he plodded along beside his lover.
Itachi watched his love with the smallest of smiles gracing his elegant features. Kisame was grumbling on about strange Uchihas and their customs, neither of which ignited fury it Itachi. He accepted the talk all good-naturedly.
"I mean...come on. You couldn't have done the nasty anywhere else? I had to hear your noises echoing throughout the whole cave. I'm probably traumatized now." Kisame said as they came to a fork in the path they were taking.
"Which way, Itachi?"
"Left." Itachi replied absently; he was still busy watching his young lover's expression change from delight to wonder as they entered a darker part of the woods.
The air was cool and moist and smelt faintly of dry leaves. Naruto breathed in deeply, inhaling the scent of the surrounding forest.
"You look happy." Itachi complimented.
His coal eyes caught on the way Naruto's hair seemed to shine like a golden halo in the sunlight. When the genin turned his breath was stolen from him at the sight of two pure blue eyes filled with unadulterated happiness.
"That's because I am, koi."
"Oh kami. If you're going to start talking all gushy-like than I'm outta here. I will happily meet you at our destination." and with those words said, Kisame teleported away silently.
"Well...now that we're alone..." Itachi chuckled darkly.
Naruto swallowed nervously, stepping back until he met the rough bark of a tree.
"Meep."
"So cute." Itachi said, kissing the older genin on the nose and causing him to blush.
"Hey! I am not cute! Cute is for girls. Are you calling me a girl?"
"Maybe I am." Itachi said teasingly, but his mouth was so close to Naruto's that all he could focus on was the heat coming off of the other male. "What are you going to do about it?"
The older male slipped his hand down to the crotch of Naruto's pants and began rubbing it back and forth. The blonde tilted his head back, mouth slightly open as hasty breaths escaped from between his lips. He was full out enjoying the sensation of having his member massaged.
"Ita...chi.." he moaned, melting into his lover's arms like a puddle of warm chocolate. Sweet, fragrant, delicious surrender.
He leaned into Itachi who lowered him to the floor, stealing his breath away with several deep tongue-filled kisses. The man wasted no time unclothing his lover so that Naruto's body was more easily accessible to him.
Naruto tangled his fingers in a mess of silky raven locks and moaned deeply as Itachi slid warm lips over his hard-on.
The teen gasped suddenly as Itachi began to hum, sending vibrations up through his cock. The sensation was that of being splashed with a bucket of cold water. Naruto's eyes opened wide as he thrust his hips forward, causing Itachi to take him deep into his mouth.
"Kami...that feels good."
Itachi released Naruto's member with a kiss and slowly crawled over his body. He let his eyes roam down to the tangle of dark blond hair down by his cock and back up to his lover's pleading expression. Naruto's face was slightly flushed and there was a glazed-over look in those twin sapphire pools.
He pulled the blonde close, grinding into him and smirking at the reaction earned. Then he flipped Naruto over and pressed his member between his cheeks teasingly. He bent over and leaned against the genin's lithe, tan body; he nibbled on his earlobe before moving on to the collarbone.
Itachi left several dark hickeys where they would be hidden under clothes. When he was satisfied with the marks, he reached a hand down and began to stroke Naruto's straining erection.
"Mm...mm. Uhn." he whimpered in response, breath catching in his throat.
"I love the way you moan for me." Itachi whispered heatedly into Naruto's left ear. "Are you ready for this?"
Itachi sensed Naruto's hesitation and his ministrations came to a halt.
"I..."
"Do it." said Naruto as he turned to look at his lover. "I want this," he touched Itachi's member with one hand. ",inside me."
A smirk crossed Itachi's face.
"So be it. I'll be gentle."
Itachi spat on his fingers before inserting one ever so slowly into Naruto's puckered opening. Naruto hissed and the missing-nin froze.
"Don't worry. You didn't hurt me." he said, answering his lover's unspoken question. "It's alright. You can..." Naruto bit off, embarrassed by vocalizing his wants.
"No. I won't do this right now. You aren't... It's too soon for me to make love to you." A breeze swept over them both, a few raven locks tumbling loose to carress Itachi's face.
Naruto shivered as the words, spoken so smoothly, glided through him. Itachi's tone was sure, gentle yet assertive with a confidence that left no room for negotiation.
"I love you so much Naruto. And I respect you deeply, which is why I am stopping here. I want us to take things slowly. I want to wait for that perfect moment. Do you understand?"
Naruto was silent as he contemplated the older man's words. Being around Itachi, being with Itachi...It just felt so right. With Sasuke, well. He found things to be precariously awkward and unsure. Hesitant to trust, he'd turned to self-harm as a way to cope. But this...This was paradise. He could speak without fear. He found his spirit floating on butterfly wings. And his soul, his tarnished, jaded, threadbare soul began to re-knit itself stronger than ever.
For the first time in a long time, he felt untroubled. He felt light as a feather, even though the weight of the seemingly entire world had once threatened to crush him in the past. Now he had Itachi. Now he knew how it felt to be truly alive.
"I do." Naruto stated clearly, a rare true smile gracing his lips. "And that means more to me than anything."
"Then that makes me happy as well." Itachi kissed the tip of Naruto's member before kissing him lightly on his flushed, sweaty cheeks.
He looked like an angel with his mussed blond hair, passionate blue eyes, and pink cheeks. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned.
"You really wore me out." he said with a grin.
He walked to the river that happened to run by the area and jumped in. Itachi followed through he entered the water with more dignified grace than Naruto had. He began to wash the traces of their encounter away. He smirked in satisfaction when he saw the three hickeys on Naruto's collarbone and lower neck.
He chuckled at the sight and Naruto turned to face him, waist-deep in the tepid water, with a look of confusion.
Just then the memory of Itachi's ministrations came back to him. He reached a hand up and felt the skin just above the marks.
"What?" he said. "Oh, you didn't, did you?"
"You did...You bastard." Naruto said teasingly.
"Well...I had to make you mine somehow, so I marked you." Itachi crossed his arms with a smile of impish glee.
Naruto merely sighed and said, "Why am I not surprised?"
Itachi closed the distance between them with a gentle kiss on Naruto's temple and ruffled his blonde hair.
"Come on. Kisame is probably waiting for us."
"I have been waiting." came an irritated voice from the bank of the river.
"NANI?! You saw?!" Naruto shrieked, covering up his modesty with his hands.
Itachi stepped in front of Naruto as if to help him feel more comfortable. Kisame eyed them uncomfortably, his gaze not slipping from the other man's face.
"No, brat. I just got here. You were taking such a long time that I got worried, okay." Kisame said with an air of injustice.
"We're coming. We're coming." Itachi's attempt to placate his partner were in vain.
"You already came, remember." Naruto said with a wicked grin.
"Oh Kami. I left so I could avoid this. I don't want to hear about your sex life!!" he shouted.
Somewhere off in the distance, two coal eyes morphed into a blazing three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Naruto..." the person whispered almost tearfully. "Why?"
"I'm leaving. Again." said Kisame as Naruto followed Itachi out from the water. "Itai!! Wait until I leave. I don't want to see your...your...junk."
Itachi watched him, a smirk slowly forming on those soft pink lips.
"You...You're enjoying this, aren't you?!" Kisame said outraged.
"Quite so, I'm afraid. Kisame." Itachi replied.
Kisame huffed before turning and leaving. "I'll wait for you at the Inn, I suppose. I don't want to possibly interrupt anything."
Naruto face flushed scarlet at the insinuation.
"H-Hey!" he said rather suddenly.
The blue-skinned man teleported away, leaving them alone once again. Overhead, the sun smiled down on the couple lying in each other's arms on the bank of the river. Warm rays quickly dried their skin. They pulled on their clothes again. Naruto was about to zip up his trademark orange jacket when a pale hand caught his own.
"Leave it open. You look much sexier like that."
"Who says I want to walk around having sex appeal?" he started to zip it again, but the hand stopped him.
"Please."
Surprise raced through Naruto the way a child might run from an ocean wave.
"Okay." he conceded.
Naruto felt warm lips capture his own and immediately surrendered, opening his mouth so Itachi could explore the cavern. He felt the other man's tongue twirl around his own and lost his breath.
"Mmph." he pulled back, feeling hot and dizzy and excited all at once.
"I need to breathe, koi." he said.
"Let's go. And try to keep yourself from molesting me as we walk down the street."
Itachi squeezed Naruto's butt cheek as if to suggest something.
"Do you ever get tired?" Naruto asked.
Itachi took some time to answer.
"Maybe." he said after several minutes of silence.
"Kami. Are all Uchihas as horny as you?"
Naruto realized his mistake as he spoke, but was too late to catch it. Itachi's face grew serious and his eyes darkened. The genin looked down, feeling guilty that he had just spoiled the atmosphere between them. Just then, Itachi lifted Naruto's chin with a finger and made him look him directly in the eye. When the missing-nin spoke, his voice was so soft that the blonde had to strain to hear him.
"Did you ever...have sex with my brother?"
Naruto found himself unable to turn away, riveted by the pain and torture resounding through his lover's voice. Unsure of what to do, he stood there, looking at Itachi. The air surrounding them suddenly seemed stagnant to Naruto. The beauty around them melted until it was a blur of green, brown, and blue.
He rubbed the bandage on his arm absently, though it was somewhat uncomfortable because the elder man was practically lifting him off his feet.
"No." Naruto said finally.
Itachi let Naruto push his hand away. He was somewhat shocked when the genin threw his arms around him and buried his face in the Akatsuki cloak he still wore out of habit. Plus, he liked it. Uchihas must always look fashionable and he thought it looked quite sexy on him indeed, though not as sexy as what he wore under the cloak. It happened to be a black fishnet shirt that formed to the contours of his body and a pair of loose black pants. A silver necklace with three circles on it adorned his neck. The Akatsuki ring he normally wore was tucked away safely in one of the many pockets lining the inside of his cloak.
"I'm s-s-sorry." the genin whimpered tearfully.
"Naruto, no. I'm not...I wouldn't have been mad at you if you had. You know that. I should be the one apologizing. I'm...I'm sorry."
The words came out rough and unsure. After all, it wasn't often that he apologized to people. Sasuke might have been his brother, but they'd never truly fought over things. He had always been distant towards his brother, unwilling to let the desires and pressures of his life be passed down to him. He never showed it, but he still loved his brother.
Naruto hugged Itachi tighter, if that was even possible. The Uchiha smiled. The genin was so young, yet he was already learning about the harder part of relationships: being honest with one another.
"Apology accepted." Naruto said.
He wiped the beginnings of tears from his eyes and gazed at Itachi with so much happiness that the man felt his heart swell with the emotion.
"Let's go. Kisame is probably wondering where we are. Again." Naruto laughed.
They started down the path again. Itachi occasionally pointed out a plant that could be used to cure certain ailments while Naruto made comments about how the clouds looked like ice cream or sailboats.
"Look! That one's a ramen bowl. See it? See it?" Naruto exclaimed while jousting a finger at the sky.
"Yes, I can see how it's appearance mimics that of a ramen bowl." Itachi said while fighting the urge to roll his eyes.
They came to one of the small miscellaneous villages bordering the edge of the Land of Fire and stopped at an inn near the outskirts. It was a meager village, but self-sufficient. Farmers grew crops on small plots of land. A few ninja wearing scuffed forehead protectors were loitering around the center.
Before entering the village, they both changed their appearances. Naruto, who now went by the name Naru, was a curvaceous blond with a wavy blue skirt and a collared white t-shirt. Itachi's hair was shorter but still held its natural raven color. He looked similar to his younger brother Sasuke with a pair of black shorts and a black high collared shirt. They had also changed their height so now they both looked to be around the same age.
Sure enough, Kisame was waiting for them at the last room on the highest floor. There were four floors in all and the shark-man has asked specifically for that room. Naruto and Itachi settled their stuff down while Kisame left...well...was ordered...to go and buy enough groceries for a meal.
"How much money do you have? I don't mean to pry, but we won't be able to hide our appearances forever. I can't keep this genjutsu up much longer."
As he said that, a poof of smoke filled the room. When it disappeared Naruto was left standing rather sheepishly in the middle.
"He-he. Make that any longer." he grinned.
Itachi let his appearance dissolve until he was back to his original height and clothes.
"I'll use a memory jutsu on the owner tomorrow. But I'll definitely have to make you practice your genjustu more often." Itachi said.
He sat down and removed a thin scroll from the confines of his cloak. Then he unraveled it and placed his hand in the middle. A seal grew around the hand, marring the otherwise perfect white area around it. A few seconds later, smoke filled the room.
"These are just a few basic items." Itachi said while tossing Naruto a soft green sleeping bag. "I'm sure this is a lot more comfortable then my cloak on a hard, rocky ground."
"But I like your cloak." Naruto protested.
"Yes, well, it is rather conspicuous. I should not even be wearing it, but old habits are not so easily erased."
Everything grew quiet. All that could be heard were the sounds of two people breathing and some rather...unwanted groans and screams of pleasure from the occupants below.
"Were you...sad...killing the Akatsuki with Kisame?" Naruto asked in a hushed voice.
A particularly lustful moan from below made him wince slightly.
"Yes, Naruto. I was. I wish to Kami that Obito had been able to make it with us."
"So Tobi was really Obito?"
"Obito Uchiha." Itachi added. "The man who gave your teacher his Sharingan eye on the night of the Kyuubi's attack."
"Really? That's where he got the eye from?" Naruto asked.
", and the first successful Sharingan implant in the world."
"Wow..." Naruto mouthed. "So, was he your friend?"
"Hai. Let us get everything settled down for the night."
"Night. What?"
Naruto was confused at first, but then he looked out the window and saw that the sun was already starting to sink below the tree line. Exhaustion assaulted him then. He yawned while Itachi set about taking out a pot and starting a fire in the pit located in the center of the room.
'I can't believe I'm here...With Itachi and Kisame. And that I'm actually...well...Itachi's lover.'
"Love, you're staring off into space again. Is something wrong?" Itachi said as he looked up from the pot of water he'd just hung over the fire.
"Oh, its nothing. I was just thinking, that's all."
"About?"
Itachi really didn't want to press him, but at the same time he was a little concerned. Could Naruto be triggered? Could he slowly be succumbing to the urge to hurt himself again? No, he didn't think that was it, but then again, he wasn't one hundred percent sure. The cuts on his left arm were serious. In fact, he should have been getting ready to clean them out soon.
"About how lucky I am to be with someone like you."
The older man felt a sense of peace drift over his soul. So Naruto really...really cared about him. Loved him. No one, aside from Shishui, had ever done that. And even then their relationship had been strictly platonic.
Just then Kisame came in carrying two bags of groceries. Itachi helped him cut up vegetables and meat before dumping them all into the big pot in the center of the room.
"It'll be stew tonight." Kisame said, sitting down by the fire to warm him-self. "It's actually a bit cold outside."
Naruto slid open a window and a cool breeze rushed inside along with the smells of the night. He scented chicken teriyaki and ramen on the air along with oriental beef and freshly picked mint. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with a smorgasbord of scents.
Sasuke watched the moon rise through watery black orbs. He'd run home as quickly as he could, barred the gate, and sat alone crying with the window open after seeing his boyfriend naked with none other than Itachi Uchiha. Luckily, he hadn't run into Sakura or his sensei. Neither of them would have known what to do about his current predicament.
'Why? Why? Why, why, why?!'
Nothing made sense to him any more. The anguish was engulfing him, swallowing him whole. He was slowly sinking down into the murky waters of depression. Nothing could save him now. Not even his former boyfriend.
How could Naruto have done something so insensitive? Seeing him there...with his own brother...In the nude...Apparently after having...Kami, he couldn't even say it. A fresh wave of tears overcame him. He let out a rasping, choking sob as he fingered the pill bottle in his other hand.
With one pale, slender hand he twisted the top off and gazed into the pill bottle.
"I want to crawl in this and die." he said out loud.
He tilted the bottle and about five or six pills came out. He swallowed them dry, then grimaced at the taste. The raven stood up and fumbled to the kitchen counter, where opening the cabinet revealed seven or eight bottles of assorted liquor. They were his father's from the past. He'd never gotten rid of them.
He pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels, undid the cap, and poured some into a shot glass retrieved from the same cabinet. More pills teetered out onto his palm. He popped seven into his mouth and downed them with the whiskey, wincing as the fiery taste burned his throat and erupted in his stomach.
Sasuke took the remaining pills, then polished off the bottle for good measure. If he was going to off himself, he damned well be sure he did it right. He eyed the rest of the whiskey with obvious distaste. The stuff was horrible, really, but wouldn't drinking it all mess with the pills more? Multiply their effect? He liked that idea.
He spent the rest of the night getting more and more wasted and popping pills from the medicine cabinet, not really paying attention to what he took. Thirty minutes later, his stomach was a train wreck of cramps and he was curled on the floor screaming in pain. It felt like his stomach was being ripped to shreds. He finally passed out after a long, long hour in a puddle of his own vomit.
Yeah...Sasuke leads a tragic life. Poor Sasuke. He's just so emo. I hate doing this to him, but I just can't help myself. Someone always has to suffer in my stories. :( Oh well, there was some ItaNaru in here for all you fans out there. Please review. It feeds my inspiration. Take care everyone.