Disclaimer- Naruto is not one of the belongings of mine…did that make sense? O.o
PENUT BUTTER JELLY TIME TO: Midnight-Shadow-Wolfling, makura moderski, electrika, Blood Zephyr, vivi-vixen, alexa-catta123, Immortal Fallen Angel, Aachen, Durkheim, Psycho Dreamer, Rachel McN, mikuloveitachi, RogueNya, left-alone, extreme kiwi, Nejidragon, Kakashi Rocks The World, FaerysWing, Kingkakashi, RockPopnMetal007, and zuckerschock FOR REVIEWING!
AND A BANANA TO THOSE WHO FAVORITED OR STORY ALERTED THIS STORY!!! ^^
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Electrika- I think I already thank you for the spelling lesson, but just in case: THANKS!!
And
Nejidragon- Everything you said is so true XD Only prob is, the link you sent me didn't work -_-'
CHAPTER DEDICATION TO:
Rachel McN! Cuz I think you're the only person who gave me some symbolism *grin*!
"Okay, so you like symbolism, but do you use 'good and bad luck' symbols? If so, naruto has 7 years bad luck to work of now 'cause of that mirror! On top of everything else,poor kid.. ;) I suppose, the Shogi game could be considered symbolism too. Itachi and Naruto both strategizing how to lie and how to bring the other out. And Itachi won both the game and the uh..discussion. In a way. :P
Even if you don't mean to, I think symbolism can have a way of sneaking into writing ;) Maybe when sasuke throws the kunai at the ceiling and it threatens to fall on him, but he doesn't move? It could be viewed as a sign that he likes to face danger head-on."
I dunno if I believe in good luck/bad luck, but I tend to throw in a lot of Karma. You got the shoji game right on the nail! Pretty close with the kunai too: I was kinda symbolizing that it was kind of his sanity, just barely hanging on XD
I know you guys prob didn't answer because it was too much thinking, sorry! I'm the daughter of an English professor, I do these kinda of "reading between the lines" things without thinking. XD
Since I luv ya, I'll tell ya the symbolism in Naruto's dream in Chap 6:
"On his left, slightly behind him, was Sasuke with an ever present smirk, and on his right, slightly in front of him, was Hinata without her infamous blush."
Sasuke's sitting slightly behind him because he's a shadow, haunting Naruto. (That'll become clearer later)
Hinata's in front cuz he thinks she's better than him, perhaps too good for him (that's for all the NaruHina fans, and proof that he's guilty)
JUST TO WARN YA! There's more symbolism in this chap, but don't worry bout it too much : )
Chapter 9: Truth
~*~
Back beat the word is on the street
That the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt
~Wonderwall by Oasis
~*~
The blonde didn't come to dinner that night. Besides a small flash of yellow prior to the loud slamming of his teammate's door, Sasuke didn't see the dobe at all.
Dinner was quiet, as it always was when it was only the two Uchiha brothers eating. They two didn't talk while they ate, and if they did it was always a one sided conversation on Itachi's part. Sasuke usually preferred this silence. He didn't care for useless small talk or interrogations about one's day. If you had nothing worth saying, there was no point in saying anything at all. But today, there should have been things worth saying. After all, his older brother had gotten to speak with Naruto after breaking the mirror.
Though he knew he was the cause of the blonde's anger, Sasuke wanted to know why. He'd never known the blonde harbored such hate towards him. Lately, it had seemed like the teen was doing everything wrong. Yelling at him, going to Tsunade; those were a given. Anybody would be angry because of that, but hate?
The Uchiha couldn't get their fight at the barbeque restaurant the night before out of his head. The ice in his teammate's blue eyes as Sasuke unwrapped his present. The boy's cool, superior attitude as Sasuke yelled at him. Then, perhaps the worse of them all, the slump of his friend's shoulders as he agreed with the Uchiha's cruel words.
"No one would ever want an idiot like you for a Hokage, in fact, they'd rather let the village burn than you rule it!"
The teen had always been so determined to be Hokage. The blonde didn't, couldn't, truly believe what Sasuke had said…could he?
As always, it seemed everything Itachi did, or in this case, did not do was meant to infuriate his little brother. The older male hadn't said a word all of dinner, let alone anything about Naruto. Finally, the silent and tense dinner ended, and as Sasuke began to pick up the plates, he gave up waiting.
"What did you say to Naruto?" Sasuke turned to his brother nearing dropping the plates as he did so, caught off guard by the sudden question.
The teen turned away once more, unable to hide guilt in his eyes. Itachi couldn't have known what he'd been thinking about just moments earlier, it was impossible. Still, the eyes that bore into his back spoke otherwise. Sometimes he still hated his brother, though for different reasons.
"I yelled at him."
"About what?"
"I don't know." Liar. "I asked him what about his friends, his dreams."
"What was his reaction?"
"I never was the 'dobe' you 'knew'."
Besides himself, Sasuke shook at the thought. Whether it was in anger or fear, he didn't know. Despite not saying anything, it seemed his brother had gotten the information he wanted, and left the room, leaving the younger male in the dark as always.
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Nightmares had been a stable in Sasuke's life for the longest time. Traumatic memories trapped him when he slipped into his subconscious; no longer able to fight them off as he did during the day. His dreams had mostly consisted of walls dripping with fresh blood, slashed corpses, and screams; horrific screams that always seemed to fall from his own traitorous mouth. Time seems to heal all, however, and soon the blood dried, leaving the walls an auburn color, the corpses were dragged to the incinerator, and the screams were but echoes, ghosts that hung amongst the thick air. It was all just a vague reminder of why he needed to kill his brother.
Since Itachi's return, however, there was no need for these reminders. And because of this want, dreams were not needed at all. Lately, Sasuke had grown accustomed to this dreamless sleep. He would choose falling completely unconscious in a sea of darkness over nightmares any day. What sane person wouldn't? Tonight it seemed he had neither, as memories indeed resurfaced, but not the familiar, horrific ones.
He was 12 again, and he was with the original Team 7, minus Kakashi. It was their first survival exercise, the bell test, and they had just failed. Naruto, being the dobe that he was, and still is, was tied to the center log yelling something or another about how he didn't need food. His stomach spoke otherwise, and growled loudly in protest. Despite what their new sensei had told them, Sasuke held his bento box in offer to the blonde.
The restrained teen's suspicious eyes looked strange on his relieved face. But the raven didn't care; he wasn't expecting any thanks. What he was doing wasn't an act of kindness anyway; he was doing it for himself. There was no way an Uchiha was going to fail, certainly not him.
Sakura seemed to follow Sasuke's lead, though also with a selfish desire; to impress him. It was shocking that these selfish acts were followed by the announcement that they had passed. "Those who break the rules are trash, but those who don't help their friends are lower than trash." Truthfully, they were only helping themselves, as they always did and would continue to do for many years to come, but they weren't about to correct him.
To celebrate, their new sensei invited them to eat. As they walked away, the screams of a still tied blonde pierced the air. Right, they'd forgotten him. From the corner of his eyes, Sasuke watched his new teammates, waiting for one to turn around and free the dobe. But when they'd all but exited the training ground, and none had made a move to return, the Uchiha sighed. Already the baka was making more work for him and they had only been a team for a few minutes. Speak of setting the tone for the rest of their lives. As the teen turned, however, he noticed that a cloud had fallen over the sun.
Sasuke turned to see that Sakura and Kakashi had already disappeared, and the teen shook his head. So much for "those who don't help their friends are lower than trash." The raven haired boy continued toward his last teammate, though he noticed the screams had stopped. Perhaps the dobe had managed to free himself, wouldn't that be just like the blonde to make others go out of their way for nothing. When the blonde came into view, however, the Uchiha saw that he was appallingly wrong.
The blonde was still restrained to the log, but it wasn't a 12 year old tied with ropes any longer. Instead, it was a 16 year old Naruto, gagged and chained to the wooden block. Sasuke's mouth fell open in shock, just as the other teen's bleary blue eyes open slightly. When his teammate saw him, he screamed, but his words were muffled by the gag. As if realizing that that did nothing, the blonde thrashed against his restraints. Instantly Sasuke moved to help his friend, but the fox container howled in pain. As he had moved closer, the chains circling the teen had tightened; the metal digging into the blonde's skin even drawing blood.
Horrified, the raven began to step back. The chains loosened, but the gag was pulled tighter, suffocating the trapped teen. Sasuke stopped moving all together, and the gag loosened as well. Once it had, the blonde's cerulean eyes snapped to his, begging him to free him.
Sasuke felt as if he'd been stabbed. How was he supposed to help him if he could neither move towards him nor get help? Naruto must have realized that his teammate wasn't going to do anything, because his eyes turned to stone. Again, the blonde started yelling and thrashing at the ties, only hurting himself in the process.
"Stop!" The Uchiha yelled. "Dobe, stop it! That won't help you. You're only hurting yourself! Stop!"
The pleas fell on deaf ears, and the other teen only lashed out that much harder.
"Stop!"
O.o OO % | # [ O.o OO % | # [ O.o OO % | # [ O.o OO % | # [ O.o OO % | # [ O.o OO % | # [ O.o OO % | # [ O.o OO % | # [ O.o OO % | # [ :'(
Sasuke must have yelled that last part aloud, for when he sprang into a sitting position the half-naked blonde froze mid-action. Still haunted and disoriented from his dreams, the raven just stared at the surprise, shirtless visitor, who in turn stared, surprised by the sudden yelling. Slowly, but surely, reality began to return to the Uchiha; and as it did, he was became even more confused by the situation.
"What are you doing in my room?" The blonde also seemed to be shaken from his surprise, and returned to his previous action of ruffling through his teammate's drawers.
"Looking for a shirt. Jeez, why does everything you have either have a stupid Uchiha symbol or show more skin than stripper? I mean, look at this," he said, lifting Sasuke's old clothing from his time with Orochimaru that he'd never gotten around to getting rid of. "Why would you KEEP this? Rephrase that, why would you EVER wear this in the first place!"
"That's what I was given to wear." Naruto stopped tossing the clothes to the floor to turn and gape.
"And you stayed?! The fifty somein' year old snake is dressing you, a teenage boy, in plunging necklines and you stay? Do you have any common sense!" Sasuke growled.
"Baka."
"How am I the baka!"
"Why do you need one of my shirts anyway?" As if taking this as an okay, the blonde continued to rummage through the rest of his teammate's clothing.
"Obviously mine's dirty."
"What, do you only have one shirt?"
"Yeah." Sasuke blinked.
"How can you only have one shirt?"
"Because I only have one shirt. What don't you understand about that?" He knew the blonde wasn't rich, but he couldn't be that poor.
"Baka. You need more than one shirt." Naruto rolled his eyes.
"No, really? I didn't know that. Thanks for giving me that little bit of wisdom." The blonde swore. "There's really are no shirts! Fine, I'll wear one with the stupid fan."
With shirt in hand, the blonde strode from the room. With a sigh, Sasuke rubbed his face with his hand. He was incredibly lucky his teammate hadn't questioned his yelling. Even now that he was fully awake, the teen couldn't get the nightmare out of his thoughts. The sight of the tied and thrashing blonde was just another image that would be forever burned at the back of his mind. Slowly he got out of his bed, dragging himself to the bathroom.
Unsurprisingly, the teen could see bags begin to form under his eyes. Paper thin lines of red streaked the white of his eyes, but what really gave the boy away was the way his arms shook as he held himself up. Sasuke growled. It was only a dream; he was overreacting. Without glancing at his reflection again, the raven finished getting ready, and went to grab something to eat.
^^ ; P % ) ^^ ; P % ) ^^ ; P % ) ^^ ; P % ) ^^ ; P % ) ^^ ; P % ) ^^ ; P % ) ^^ ; P % ) ^^ ; P % ) d^-^b
On his way to the kitchen, he heard a knock at the door. With a sigh, the teen changed his direction and opened the front door.
"Sasuke! So you are here." Sakura gushed, sounding relieved. Of course, it just had to be her. "I was kind of worried when you and Naruto weren't at our group meeting. Especially when Kakashi-sensei had said we probably wouldn't have any more meetings or missions for a while, or if we did Naruto wouldn't be there. And so I wanted to make sure he was okay, so I went to his apartment, but it was all boarded up. So then I got really worried, and since you weren't at the meeting either, I thought you might be in some trouble too, because you never miss a meeting. But since you're okay, I was wondering if you wanted to come see Tsunade-sama with me and see if she knows where Naruto is. Also, she already wants you to see her, so you need to go anyway! So, will you come with me?"
Sasuke stared at his female teammate, dumbfounded by the amount of words she had said so quickly. Obviously she was really worried, but what she was worried about was still sinking in. Suddenly, he felt a weight on his shoulder. Turning, he saw it belonged to a certain blonde's elbow.
"Aw! Thanks for worrying about me Sakura-chan! But there's nothing wrong. I'm taking a leave from active shinobi work for a bit and stayin with teme, and the reason he wasn't there is cuz he's a modern day sleeping beauty! Seriously, he sleeps more than a sloth does!"
The pink headed teen smiled slightly, not so much at the joke but at her teammate's behavior. The main reason she'd been so worried this morning was because of what had happened the other night. She was glad to see him acting like his old self, though she could tell something was amiss. His explanation was seriously lacking.
"Tell baa-chan that the teme will be there after breakfast." Still slightly suspicious, Sakura nodded, and as she turned away, the blonde teen shut the door.
Sasuke hadn't moved while his teammates spoke, but now that Sakura was gone, he turned to glare at the blonde, who in turn stiffened.
"Why is your house boarded up?" Said teen relaxed, and rubbed the back of his head.
"And here I was thinking you'd ask why I didn't tell Sakura the truth. They boarded up my house to make sure me or somebody else didn't break into it while I was here."
Sasuke studied his friend, searching for a lie amongst the truths. He knew there had to be one; he was getting used to the fact that most everything his teammate said was a lie or based on a lie. Still, he couldn't find one, at least not yet. With a sigh, the teen turned and opened the door.
"Oi! Where are you going?"
"Dobe, Tsunade-sama wants to see me."
"You're not even going to eat breakfast?" Sasuke just rolled his eyes, and walked through the door. However, he didn't miss what the blonde muttered under his breath as he did.
"Stupid teme, doesn't even appreciate how good he's got it."
But by then, the "teme" was out the door.
'w' ^U^ x_x X-X 'w' ^U^ x_x X-X 'w' ^U^ x_x X-X 'w' ^U^ x_x X-X 'w' ^U^ x_x X-X 'w' ^U^ x_x X-X 'w' ^U^ x_x X-X 'w' ^U^ x_x X-X ^(^-^)^
This time Sasuke knocked before entering Tsunade's office. Of course, knocking didn't necessarily mean he waited for a reply, as he entered while simultaneously doing so, but at least he went through the motions. The Hokage didn't seem to share this opinion. From somewhere behind a mountain of loose leafed papers and packets came a low growl.
"What is it with you brats and barging in?" It seemed that the Godaime was truly angry about this, or more likely frustrated in general, because one of the towers of white fell, scattering in several different directions about the room.
"You wanted to see me?"
In reply, the sannin tossed a green lump of fabric across the room, which was then caught by the raven with ease. Unfolding the material revealed it to be a jonin vest.
"There's supposed to be a ceremony and whatnot, but I'm sure you don't give a care whether you have one or not, so I told them to skip all those formalities. You can thank me later."
"Hn."
Though, Sasuke hated to admit it, he was thankful. It was one less thing he had to worry about; one less opportunity for people to fawn over him for nothing. Just the thought of a big ceremony disgusted him. The Uchiha was a vain and proud as they come, but even he drew the line at standing in front of a big crowd just to get a vest, even if that crowd was only made of his fellow shinobi. Besides, he was only a jonin; he should be an ANBU by now for kami's sake.
Assuming that was all Tsunade had called him for, the teen turned to leave; somewhat annoyed that he'd rushed over for naught.
"Oi, did I say you were dismissed? Lousy gaki don't have any respect nowadays." With an internal sigh, the raven turned once more to stand at attention with his always emotionless expression.
"Hn?"
"How's Naruto holding up?" Sasuke stiffened at the name, and in return the Hokage's eyes tightened. "I haven't received any reports from Itachi yet, though I assume I'll get one later tonight. I wanted to know how Naruto reacted to staying at your house last night." A ghost of a smile found its way onto her lips. "He was pretty adamant about not staying with you."
Sasuke didn't say anything, and he didn't want to either. In the back of his mind he knew any words he said about the blonde was a betrayal. The way Naruto had lied so smoothly to Sakura was proof of that. Even though his teammate had been caught, he was still spinning lies. It was as if he hadn't been caught in his own web like one would think: Sasuke, Tsunade, and who ever else knew just broke free. That being said, anything the Uchiha said, any truth he allowed, was against his friend.
But why did that bother him now? He had no problems running to Tsunade when he first found out. Anything else he said couldn't be as bad as that. Besides, they were trying to help him, not hurt him. Again the dream came to mind, and suddenly he doubted his own words. Still, what did it matter? Sasuke was already a traitor in the blonde's mind.
"…He did get fairly angry with me when we spoke, and broke a mirror once I'd left the room." The pair of hazel eyes widened.
"He didn't—" Sasuke shook his head. The Godaime visibly deflated, but somehow still managed enough energy to growl, "Good. Make sure there's not a single piece of glass left in that room."
With that, the Hokage went to pick up some of the fallen papers. Taking this as some sort of dismissal, Sasuke turned to leave. When he wasn't called back, he walked out of the office with long, quick strides.
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He thought had gotten everything over with, but kami really wasn't on his side today. Mere inches from the door stood his other teammate from the original Team 7. The pink haired girl's stood akimbo¹, and the frown on her face seemed to be etched into stone. The raven turned away from the other teen and began to walk down the hall in vain. From just one glance her way, Sasuke knew she'd listened to the entire conversation and that he wasn't leaving until she finished her interrogation. Sure enough he was less than five steps away before she was on his tail.
"What was that about?"
"Nothing," Sasuke grunted.
"You were talking about Naruto." The Uchiha groaned internally. She had been listening in. "Why is he staying with you anyway?"
"He already told you why."
"I don't have to be a shinobi to tell that was a lie." But apparently being a shinobi did nothing to help her understand that Sasuke was not in the mood to deal with her. "What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing."
"Why did he get angry?"
"We're always fighting."
"But then why did Tsunade freak out about him breaking a mirror? Why is Itachi giving her reports on him? Why did she tell you to make sure you cleaned up all the—"
Abruptly, the other teen stopped walking. Stopping as well, Sasuke turned to look at his teammate. Despite himself, the Uchiha could feel his heat rate quicken slightly and his head turned to lead as he turned. Sure enough her face told all.
"He had a bandage on his arm…he tried to kill himself didn't he?" Sasuke turned away from her and began walking once more.
"No." Again, Sakura began following him, this time her words quicker and more urgent.
"But he's been hurting himself, hasn't he? That's why he can't stay in his apartment alone. He needs supervision. And that's why Itachi's giving reports on him. And that explains why Kakashi said he wouldn't be on active duty. And that's why—"
"Yes!" Sasuke finally snapped, pivoting to face a shocked Sakura. "Yes, the dobe has been cutting himself. That's why he's at my house. That's why he lied to you. And that's why you won't leave me alone!"
The Uchiha once again tried to make his way down the hall, this time swearing silently to himself as he did. What he'd told Tsunade earlier was child's play compared to this. In a moment of annoyance, Sasuke single-handedly destroyed the web of lies Naruto worked so hard to build, and the teen felt no satisfaction in doing so. From somewhere behind him, he heard Sakura talking again.
"Does everyone else know?" Instantly, the raven spun to glare at her.
"No."
"Then we should—"
"No," the word this time was said much more forcefully. Sakura looked confused.
"What do you mean no? They deserve to—"
"They don't deserve anything."
"So you're just not going to tell them?"
"Exactly."
"How could you NOT tell them! We're his friends! We want to help him! No one can help him if they don't know."
"Ever think there's a reason he doesn't want everyone to know?"
"But Sasuke, we can't not tell anyone. Naruto's life could be in jeopardy!" In a blink of an eye, the Uchiha was at Sakura's side, gripping her arm tightly.
"The dobe's life could be in jeopardy if you do. You will NOT tell anyone, understand?"
He watched his teammate's jade eyes widen with each word, and waited until she reluctantly nodded. Only then did he drop his grip and exited the building as quickly as possible. Sasuke needed to get home before the day could get any worse.
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He didn't think it was possible, but the Uchiha household was more boring than his hospital room. At least there Naruto had a TV. But here, even after an extensive search of the house, there was no such amenity here. You'd think that if you could afford a six bedroom, four bathroom house², you could afford a lousy television. Uchiha must have thought they were too good for TV, whatever.
His room was especially boring, and the gap where the mirror had been the night before drove the teen mad. He'd been staring at it for the last five minutes, unable to ignore the missing object despite how he wanted to forget the whole event. A slam followed by another slam moments later shook him from his thoughts, however, and the boy smirked.
"Guess Sasuke's home. Always the drama queen."
Finally, he averted his eyes, instead looking at the bandage wrapped around his wrist. Naruto'd forgotten he still had it on. Normally, he took such things off the second the wound stopped bleeding, but baa-chan had rewrapped it before he'd left the hospital and he'd forgotten all about it. With a sigh, he unwounded the cloth, slowly revealing his downfall. The wound itself was small, a dried layer of blood the only proof of existence. Soon the cut would fade and perhaps disappear all together if he was lucky. Of course, most scars didn't disappear.
Naruto couldn't stand looking at it any longer. It sickened him that he'd been caught because of one lapse of judgment. Rising to his feet, he decided to go back to the "study" Itachi had taken him to the night before. Anything to get out of the lifeless room.
When the teen opened the door to the study, however, he was shocked to find that it was spotless. In awe, Naruto walked slowly into the room taking in the room's restored grandeur. Just as he'd thought the night before, the room was in fact cozy, but now that it was clean it also gave off a welcoming, if not somewhat overpowering, vibe. Still in a daze, the shinobi made his way toward the bookshelves, touching the soft leather of the books and the aged parchment of the scrolls. It seemed they too were clean, because now the titles were no longer illegible or distorted under a thick layer of dust.
"The Shinobi Nations," he read the titles quietly to himself. "Shinobi Rationale, History of the Uchiha, figures."
He turned to look at a lower shelf with noticeably newer books. The teen picked one at random and started laughing.
"How to Communicate with an Unwilling Child. Wonder if it has worked with Sas—" Naruto stopped laughing when it occurred to him that the book could very well be for him as well. He turned to read the other titles, and felt his heart sink to his stomach. The blonde sighed.
"Your Depressed Child, Child Psychology, Teen Angst. Really?"
With a shake of his head, he returned the book back to its shelf and headed toward the kitchen. Naruto hadn't had much for breakfast that morning, despite Itachi's insisting that he have more, and the blonde's stomach was starting to growl. He was used to feeling hungry, and usually ignored his organ's protest, but he knew he'd hear about it later if anyone heard him. The blonde didn't make it to the kitchen, however, because on his way he heard a knock at the door. Despite the fact that it wasn't his house and therefore shouldn't be answering the door, the teen did so anyway.
"Oi! Naruto is here." The blonde blinked at the unexpected visitors.
"Kiba? Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Neji? What are you guys doing here? How'd you know where I was anyway?" Kiba grinned.
"Well, the word on the street is that you got arrested! Of course, we figured it was just a rumor, but we were gonna ask Tsunade about it anyway. So me and Shino were going to ask Hinata to come with us, but she's in trouble—"
"Trouble?" Naruto frowned, turning to stare at Neji who was sure to know more about his quiet friend. "What kind of trouble?"
"Old Hiashi banned her from leaving the house for one reason or another," Kiba continued. "He wouldn't even let us talk to her! But on the way out, we ran into Neji here who told us that Hinata said you'd be here." The cerulean eyes never left Neji.
"What else did she tell you?"
"Nothing other than she was worried." The Hyuuga replied smoothly, though the curiosity was evident in his voice.
"We ended up running in Shikamaru and Choji on the way here. They heard the rumor too and were going to ask Tsunade about it, but it's not just rumor, is it? It's true you were arrested?" Finding no way to deny it, the blonde hesitantly nodded. "Dang Naruto! What did you do this time?"
Naruto faked a grin, easily slipping his mask into place.
"No point in talking through the door way, come on in! Teme's house is your house."
Stepping aside, he allowed the group of teens and one giant dog to walk in. As he did, the blonde noticed the glances Neji and Shikamaru threw his way and noted that he'd have to be extremely careful not to give anything away. Kiba and Choji would be easy to handle, but Shikamaru and Neji were already suspicious. Shino…well, he never knew what to do about him. Still, the blonde smiled as if he didn't notice and played host in a home that was not his. Not knowing where else to lead them, he made his way to the study. Once there, he allowed his guests to walk in first, but pulled Neji to the side.
"Hey…what would Hiashi do if Hinata snuck out?" The Hyuuga stared at the other teen, somewhat surprised by his uncharacteristic seriousness.
"Strip her of her heiress title and demote her to branch status." The blonde's eyes widened drastically with realization, but then returned to their natural state.
"Oh."
Neji waited for something more, but received no other response. Instead, Naruto turned and walked into the room to join the others as if nothing had happened. Without missing a beat, the jonin followed, still curious as to whether the blue eyed boy was going to tell his friends the truth. That was the only reason he was here, anyway. After all, Hinata held up her half of the bargain.³
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Naruto was actually having fun making up a story. Since it had to be outrageous enough to get arrested for, the blonde was spinning some outlandish tale about how he single handedly tricked 100 shinobi into thinking Tsunade wanted to see all of them. The chaos was unpreventable, and the lobby had become so full, people were waiting in the hallways. Of course, this caused a lot of problems for the people who actually needed to see the Hokage, but in Naruto's opinion it was worth the sacrifices. When baa-chan finally figured out who was behind the mess, she almost destroyed her office and sent ANBU to bring him in.
It was one of his more creative lies, if he did say so himself. What truly made it one of his best was the fact that, despite how unrealistic and improbable it sounded, the other teens seemed to accept it! There might be a job in sales for Naruto if he couldn't be a shinobi anymore.
Now that that was out of the way, the group of teenagers was content to just hang out. Neji, who seemed to stop listening as soon as the blonde started talking, had floated over toward the bookshelves, and since then had taken an interest in one of the books. Shino, for reasons unbeknownst to the rest of them, had agreed to play a game of shoji with Shikamaru, and though it was obvious he was going to lose, he was surviving fairly well. Choji, of course, raided the Uchiha kitchen as soon as Naruto had finished his story, so he, Naruto, and Kiba lay sprawled onto the couches and chairs, eating and joking. And for the first time in a long while, the blonde was happy, or at least extremely close to happy.
Probably because everyone was submerged in their own workings, no one heard someone knock at the front door. And because they hadn't heard someone knock in the first place, they were unaware that Itachi let the person in, nor were they aware that he told said person where the blonde could be found. In fact, they weren't aware of the other guest at all, until there was a knock on the study door, which Naruto then got up and answered. But even if the group hadn't been caught off guard by the visitor herself, they surely weren't ready for what she said. Because the moment the blonde opened the door, Sakura let him have it.
"How could you CUT yourself! Why didn't you just tell me! Why did you LIE? How could you even think about hurting yourself! Don't you care about your friends? What about everyone—" The pink haired girl stopped mid-sentence when she realized the blonde was not alone. "Oh."
¹ I am in love with the word Akimbo! Seriously, it's like my in my top three fav words ever. You know, I think I said this in my other story XD Oh, well!
² I have no idea how big the Uchiha main house is, but it has to be fairly large = =
³ Don't you remember when he caught Hinata sneakin out the window he told her she could tell him about Naruto later? …I was about to say!
So much for not telling anybody else, huh?
Major cliff-hanger I know, but I don't think I could sit here and type anymore T-T (My eyes are burning cuz I went to bed late because I was writing this, and woke up early to finish it. Plus I think my butt's asleep XD) So this chap is kinda a filler, but not NEARLY as bad as last weeks. (There's lots more important junk happenin :P)
Also:
I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG FOR ME TO UPDATE!!! ;_;!
School is MUCH harder and busier than I expected. After the way they built up freshman year and it turned out to be extremely easy, I expected sophomore year to be the exact same; boy was I wrong! I'm used to Algebra HW everyday, but chemistry too? And you know, I think I'd be just fine if it weren't for the CD! I swear, if I have to write one more literary analysis I will KILL SOMEONE! She even made the Personal Narrative project not fun! How did that happen?! T-T
Oh well.
On a happier note: Tom is my dad's b-day! ^^
And on a SUPREMELY happier note: My birthday is on the 23! : D Of course, I'm not going to be able to drive or anything (don't have my permit even) but it's an excuse to have a party and get presents!!! *evil happy grin* But that also means I'm gonna be busy…
Speaking of busy, sophomore year so far means slower updates T-T I'm hoping the work load gets easier to manage instead of harder as the year goes on, but we'll see.
Here's my Q of the week!
Does anyone reading this actually like Sakura?
I'm sure you've noticed I consider her to be almost as bad as Sasuke, especially with this chap XD
Peasle Rveie! (iF yOu CaN raed tihs YoU aRe speur dpoeor satrilcme!)
For the rest of us who aren't super dooper smarticle/don't even want to try reading that nonsense:
PLEASE REVIEW!!! XD