Chapter 7

It's finally Friday.

That's possibly one of the reasons why Naruto seemed so carefree and overall in high spirits, or perhaps it's because he gets to spend a whole night with Sasuke. Or perhaps, he's even more hype because tonight might just be the start of his exit plan. A plan that he has been waiting five years and has been concocting to perfection. Knowing Sasuke, he might try to convince him against it. But also knowing himself quite well, he wasn't the type to be easily persuaded.

So as he strolled down the school halls that afternoon, he was all smiles. This scared the students that have become accustomed to his usual fuck the world attitude. This new smiling bottle of sunshine was new and they couldn't decipher what it meant. And of course like all high school students, they were nosy and anticipated whatever motive was behind that smile. Little did they know, it was all pure intentions.

Naruto was by his locker, shrugging off his backpack when he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. He turned with furrowed eyebrows before he relaxed at the sight of a young girl in a matching uniform. She was petite, with a cute face and long purple hair. Naruto was sure he had seen her before.

"What's up?" He asked while shoving his backpack into the top space of the locker.

"Umm, hi I'm Hinata. I just wanted to give you this."

She's shy, he concluded. It was obvious by the way she tried her hardest to evade his eyes as she spoke. Naruto looked at the brown paper bag pushed towards him. He took it into his hands and inspected the contents in it. It was a bag full of fried dumplings.

"I'm sorry about what my brother did to you. You see our family own a dumpling shop so I brought you some." She smiled widely before a thought crossed her mind. "I mean I know it doesn't make up for he did but you know, I thought you might like it."

Naruto found her to be adorable. "Who's your brother?"

Hinata hesitated. "Neji."

Naruto scoffed at the name. "How is a cute girl like you related to that asshole." He expected her to defend her brother but instead he's caught off guard when she laughed. It was a nervous laugh.

"You see, our shop isn't doing that good in sales and because of it, we might have to shut it down. The shop is our only source of income so it's been very tough for all of us, especially for Neji." She confessed with sad eyes.

Naruto wore a blank expression. "So, because no one wants to eat his mama's dumplings, he reacts by lashing out on me?" He leaned against the locker with a smile. "Forgive me if I don't feel sympathy for him."

Hinata nodded her head. "I understand. Anyway, I hope you like the dumplings. Come by if you want anymore, we could really use the help." She hastily left.

Naruto watched as she timidly walked down the hall. He wondered if he came off harsh, he's almost apologetic. Almost. He once again looked inside and noticed a a small paper clipped to the side of the bag. It was the address of the restaurant written in a beautiful penmanship. He chuckled. She wasn't kidding, they really were desperate.

He's late to his gym class. Great. The walk to the locker room is annoyingly far and unpleasant. It's located all the way on the other side of the school building since it is closest to the school's open field. Curse the nice weather, he'd rather be in the gymnasium located in the basement that's much closer from the second floor that he was currently on.

He took his time heading over to the substitute locker room that the class was using. It's empty, he's really late. An upside however is that there's no bothersome bragging testosterone harboring boys around to annoy him.

"Hey."

Naruto turned to find Kiba heading towards him in their school uniform. Good to know he's not the only one late. He responded with the same greeting he received. Kiba is now standing in front of him.

"I was calling you all night yesterday."

Naruto hesitantly accepted the arm that wrapped around his slim waist. "My brother took my phone." He explained as his body is pulled into Kiba's taller own.

Kiba gazed down at Naruto with a guilty expression. "You okay?"

"Are you inquiring that you actually care about my well-being?"

Kiba answered with a kiss. Their lips move slowly against one another with Kiba's hand caressing Naruto's cheek lovingly. It's a kiss that isn't forceful but instead gentle and sweet.

"Believe it or not I care about you." Kiba said after he pulled away.

Naruto rolled his eyes and pulled away from Kiba's hold. "Right. You're just an asshole by nature, I remember."

"Don't act like that?"

"Act like what? A bitch?"

Kiba inhaled deeply as he threw his hands in the air. " Why do you always have to turn every sentimental moment between us into an argument?"

Naruto's thrown off by the sudden attack. "Yeah because I should be praising you for coming to check up on me after you sat there and watched your dumbass friend kick my head in."

Kiba stepped forward to plead his case when he's stopped by the haste raise of Naruto's hand. "What?"

"Looks like I have a little duckling." Naruto said playfully, eyeing the end of the row of lockers that hid a body behind it. "You might as well come out, I see you." Naruto called out.

The chubby student from the other day is now before him and Kiba. The teen waved a hello and he smiled shyly when Naruto waved back. Suddenly, his eyes are enlarging in fear when his gym shirt collar is gripped tightly and he's shoved painfully against the hard lockers.

"Little duckling huh? More like big duckling if you ask me." Kiba jeered.

Naruto was near him in a moment. "It's a good thing no one asked. Let him go." He demanded sternly. His words are ignored.

"I swear fatso, if you ever tell anyone what you just saw I'll…"

"I said let him go!" Naruto enforced with a hard shove that had the rest of Kiba's threat unable to escape his mouth. "Don't you have to be an asshole somewhere else?"

Kiba's both annoyed and turned on by the blonde's feistiness. However, in the current moment, his annoyance surpassed his desirable needs. "Naruto, if he tells anyone.."

"Why are you still here?" The annoyance is still clear in Naruto's tone. He exhaled thankfully when Kiba disappeared from his sight. His attention is back on the victim. This time he executed the hero role well, he's proud of himself.

"Thank you."

Naruto finally heard his voice. The other time he was too busy in pain to listen to it. It sounded exactly how he'd expected it sound. Timid with no sort of self confidence.

"What's your name?"

"Choji."

Naruto hummed. "Choji, I don't appreciate you following me around like a lost puppy."

Choji looked down in embarrassment. "I wanted to properly thank you for helping me the other day but I always get too shy."

"You don't have dumplings too, do you?" Naruto joked.

"Dumplings?" Choji asked with a confused expression.

Naruto chuckled. "Never mind. Now that you said thank you, I'd really appreciate it if you stopped following me around. "

Choji responded with a timid nod.

Naruto turned to leave but then stopped abruptly. "Here, I'm not really a fan of dumplings."

Choji accepted the bag hesitantly. He smiled as he thanked his hero in shining uniform.

"One more thing, if you tell anyone what you saw earlier, Kiba will be the least of your problems." His threat is serious but his tone remained calm.

Choji bit the inner corner of his mouth. A feeling of bravery suddenly surged through him. "I think you can do better."

Naruto smiled widely at the remark. He's shocked by it. "Keep that energy the next time someone decides to take your glasses." He laughed alongside Choji before he made his exit. Guess, he's not going to gym class today.

That evening, Kyuubi was in the kitchen preparing dinner. He's at the moment engaged in a conversation with his friend of two years, Yugito Nii. The woman is tall and fit, with a fair complexion and lengthy dirty blonde hair. And like Kyuubi, she too had a son of her own. A five year old with a striking resemblance to his mother.

Yugito sat by the small circular glass dining table near the kitchen, on the comfortable black leather chair that was no doubt expensive. She knew much about Kyuubi, more than his own brother knew. She's a dear friend and she held Kyuubi in the same regard. At the moment, they converse about a drunk man that Yugito had arrested during the day. It helps to have a friend that's a cop for many obvious reasons. Of course the stories were also a added bonus.

While the adults did what they did best, talk and for lack of better terms gossip, the boy's sat in the living room, entertained by Jaron's iPad. At the moment, Jaron was in the middle of showing pictures of the vampire he had met in the supermarket to his friend and classmate, Kota. Naruto had of course searched and snapshotted pictures of the boy's father for him since Jay insisted on seeing him over and over again. Naruto supposed the boy's automatic interest for the man was due to the fact that Itachi was the child's father.

"Woah, he looks a lot like you in the future Jay." Kota observed with sparking eyes. And just like Jay, he too had also become innocently smitten by the beautiful man.

Jaron's fingers stopped from sliding the screen to the next pic. His expression is dumbfounded as he looked at his friend. "That makes no sense." He countered.

Kota pouted. "What do you mean?"

Jay sighed from the boy's lack of comprehension. "You haven't seen me in the future, how can you know if I'll look like that?" He stated with an obvious tone.

Kota looked up with his index finger firm on his bottom lip, his mind trying to understand Jay's explanation. "Oh I get it now, you're right." He concluded in a happy tone.

"Stupid." Jaron mumbled.

Kota placed his hands on his hips assertively. "Hey, don't call me stupid."

"Alright, I'm sorry." Jay smiled sweetly and of course his cuteness overwhelmed his previous blatant offense. Kota smiled back and returned his eyes back to the screen as Jay continued to show more pictures of the man he was at the moment obsessed with.

"Is that my little angel Kota?" Naruto cheered upon sight of his little clone sat over the couch. He ran over and lifted the boy into his arms before twirling him around. "How's my second favorite blonde?"

"Okay." Kota answered, giggling as he spoke. "Who's your first favorite blonde?"

"Me of course." Naruto pressed a kiss to his cheek. He noticed the picture over his nephew's iPad and he facepalmed. But honestly, he blamed himself for letting the boy watch his vampire dramas with him.

He went to kiss his nephew but instead pulled back when the boy declined his affection. "Oh I see, Kota's here so you don't want to be babied." Naruto shook his head with a playful smile on his face. He inched slower to the unsuspecting boy and managed to sneak a quick peck to the plump cheek.

"Naru..!" Jay protested.

Naruto merely laughed in response. "You're never gonna get too old for my kisses."

"Jay, you're red like your mommy's hair." Kota teased.

Jay cowered back into the soft cushions. "Shut up." That doesn't stop Kota from laughing on.

"Hey Yugito, what's up?" Naruto greeted on his way to the refrigerator.

"Hi Naruto, how are you?" She possessed a strong, commanding voice. A voice fit for an officer.

Naruto smiled. "I'm alright." He downed some ice cold water, exhaling a cool breeze afterwards. He turned to his brother. "Hey bro."

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow. And since when did Naruto acknowledge his existence. "Uhh.. hi?"

"Sasuke should be coming any minute now, right?" He asked on his way out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, he should be here any minute now."

"Sweet."

Kyuubi's eyes followed his brother until he disappeared into his room. His brows are raised as he turned to Yugito.

"Polite for a quote on quote devil's spawn." Her red stained lips tugged into a smile.

Kyuubi's jaw is nearly reaching the floor. "I think an alien replaced my brother."

"I don't think it's an alien that has your brother in such a good mood." Yugito said with a knowing stare.

A few seconds passed until Kyuubi caught on. "Sasuke."

Yugito raised her glass of wine in agreement. "Exactly." They laughed amongst themselves.

Kyuubi was true to his word and in a few short minutes Sasuke had arrived. He was respectful, just as he was raised to be. He greeted the woman within the apartment, annoyed for a minute by the pestering questions he was asked regarding his family, but never once allowing his annoyance to surface. He was thankful when Kyuubi restrained his friend but not after he was asked to take a number of selfies. Honestly, and this woman was a police officer? Where's her pride?

Naruto sat in the passenger seat of Sasuke's expensive car. He wasn't sure what brand or model it was, all he knew was that it was in fact expensive. After all, it's Sasuke. He's dressed in comfortable sweats and dark a hoodie. One would say he's underdressed compared to Mr. Uchiha in the driving seat who was clothed in a white silk attire decorated with dark prints of a raven. He's not sure he's seen that print before, but it looked expensive. Then again, he didn't take it upon himself to familiarize himself with the fashion industry.

"Where do you want to go?" Sasuke asked, his voice as enticing as ever.

Naruto looked over to him. What is with this man and always leaving his upper body bare? What's the point of even wearing a shirt if he won't close it fully? Naruto can't complain much, his eyes shamelessly drawn to those deliciously sculpted abs. They make Kiba's look like child's play.

"Naruto?"

Said blonde gazed up, meeting Sasuke's gaze for a second. His cheeks are tinted red and it's all of a sudden way too hot in the car. "Um, lets get some dumplings."

Sasuke had to take a moment to make sure he heard correctly. "Dumplings?"

"Yeah, why not?" Naruto molded his lips to contain his laughter that threatened to escape due to Sasuke's disproving glare.

"As I recall you hate dumplings, don't you?" Sasuke tried his hardest to hide the distaste from his tone.

Naruto's having a kick out of it however. "I like a lot of things I use to hate back then. For instance, you."

"You wish you could hate me."

"Let's get some dumplings or is Mr. Rich guy too good to digest commoner food?"

Sasuke inhaled strongly to preserve his composure. "Let's get you some dumplings then." He said with a forceful smile that's honestly not fooling anyone.

Naruto's smile is reaching his ears. "Look who just happens to have the address."

"Of course you do."

And perhaps, this could be the distraction Naruto needed. For in that moment, it seemed the world was just the two of them in that car. Just as in the past, Sasuke still struggled to go against Naruto's wishes and Naruto is still having the time of his life because of it. This is the life he wants, to stay by his best friend's side for all his life, and he'd make sure it will be that way.

But what does Sasuke want?

Thank you for reading. Who's your favorite character so far?