Well, this is the second chapter.
beta'ed by Divinely Insane Thanx!!!
And I'll also like to dedicate this chapter to Rasengan22 because she's cool! Don't be sad!!!
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When Naruto and Sakura got to the hospital Itachi was already at the door waiting for them. Naruto felt a weird feeling wash over him as he realized that Itachi had been notified first; had Sasuke died, Itachi would have been there and not him…
They went straight to the emergency area and asked for the state of Sasuke Uchiha, but no one would give them an answer. Sakura, having enough of this not knowing, went to the main office to get some answers.
While she was away, Naruto and Itachi sat there in silence.
Naruto knew Itachi didn't feel anything in particular about him or Sakura, but he caught himself wondering if sometimes he too felt jealous about the relationship he and Sasuke shared, like he did about the relationship the two of them shared… He chastised himself at these thoughts; how could he compare himself with Itachi? They were brothers!
-"Itachi Uchiha? You can see your brother now"- called a nurse and Naruto stood up, but kept rooted to his spot as he saw Itachi walk to the swinging doors that led to the beds inside the ER.
Itachi turned around and looked at Naruto questioningly.
-"Don't you want to see him?"- asked Itachi after a few moments.
-"Yeah, but…"- said Naruto and finally took a few steps towards Itachi and the entrance.
At the door a nurse was waiting for Itachi, but when she saw the blond her frown burrowed.
-"Just family sir"- she said extending her hand as if to stop Naruto, but Itachi spoke.
-"He is family"- said the tall stoic male and the woman eyed them both suspiciously as if not believing the statement, and who would, there wouldn't be two people that could look less alike than the two of them.
-"Sorry sir, but in here it says he only has one brother"- said the nurse and made eye contact with the blond, who averted his gaze towards the floor.
-"Well, what if he is his partner?"- said Itachi with that same bored tone.
-"Well… then maybe…"- the nurse was stuttering and Naruto's eyes were glued to the floor. If this could get him to see Sasuke he would take what he could get.
So gathering enough courage, he raised his eyes and met the woman's own and nodded.
She moved aside without saying much more.
Itachi and Naruto's footsteps could be heard through the corridor, and the blond thought it was odd seeing that the place was overflowing with people, but he could hear his own steps echoing.
Soon enough Sakura had caught up to them as they entered the recovery wing.
The moment they entered the room Naruto and Sakura bolted to Sasuke's bed and both of them held his hand.
Itachi watched them exchange a few words with a drugged up Sasuke and an almost-not-there smile appeared in his features…
It took almost all of Sakura's convincing methods to make Naruto leave Sasuke's side that day…
On his way out of the hospital Naruto saw a couple kissing on the entrance door… He had forgotten his camera on the way out, but decided that was his favorite kiss…
The next day Sasuke was moved to a room, Itachi had taken care of the necessary arrangements for it to be a single room. Naruto had been there first thing in the morning.
He stayed with Sasuke for the whole day.
The raven had a few bruises and scratches, they had to do a few stitches on his right eye brow and he had a cast on his left leg, but nothing that couldn't heal with time.
Naruto had made a few jokes about his cast and was the first one to sign it.
He drew a tomato and a sakura petal and wrote a Thank You right next to it. Sasuke didn't say a thing about it and only smirk at the blond.
They talked about everything and nothing for the rest of the day; to amuse the raven Naruto had played a practical joke on the nurses and that almost got him kicked out, but they had laughed so much it had been worth it.
That Sunday Sasuke received many visitors, but Naruto was always a constant one in the room and the raven was thankful for it. Since the first time they had met years ago the raven was known for his social inadequacy, but somehow having Naruto near him made him more approachable.
Sakura had brought home made Onigiri and while she and Lee chatted with the raven Itachi took Naruto outside the room.
-"Sometimes I'm jealous of you two"- said Itachi, his eyes glued to his brother lying on the hospital bed, Sakura and Lee amicably taking with him.
-"You mean Sakura and me?"- asked Naruto no sure where this was headed, his eyes followed Itachi's own until his were also focused on Sasuke: -"Why would you be jealous of us?"- mumbled Naruto as a small smile made itself present on his lips as he saw Sakura's reenactment of her latest cat fight with the head of the nurses.
-"You three are a real family…"- mumbled Itachi and for a moment Naruto thought he had heard sadness in the other male's voice, but maybe it had been his imagination.
-"But you are HIS real family"- said Naruto and his voice had sounded scornful even to himself.
-"Might be, but he called for you when he got here"- Itachi answered back and finally made direct eye contact with the blond.
Naruto's expression was hard to describe, it was a mix between surprise and happiness and something that resembled sadness, but you could never be sure with Naruto.
-"But you are also our brother, ne Aniki?"- said Naruto with one of his infamous grins plastered in his face.
That was the first time Naruto saw Itachi smile.
The beginning of the week Naruto spent it mostly at the hospital, chatting with Sasuke.
On Wednesday he was to be released from the hospital.
-"Are you almost done with your exhibition?"- asked Sasuke as he placed his hospital rope away. He hated that damn thing!
-"Yeah, almost…"- said Naruto munching on some poky while going through his latest pictures: -"It's just that I'm having trouble arranging them"- he mumbled with his eyes focused on his laptop screen.
-"Humph! You are arranging something! Well that's a first!"- said Sasuke mockingly as he made his way to sit at the blonds' side, his head peaking from the side to look at the pictures.
-"Is harder than you think!"- pouted Naruto as he met the playful gaze the other was giving him.
-"Why? Just put them in whatever order"- commented the raven off handedly and turned towards the window, his shoulder brushing Naruto's.
-"No. I need a special one, one that would make the perfect center of each one of the collages…"- said Naruto absentmindedly as he kept going through the pictures.
Sasuke turned towards the blond.
His blue eyes were intently focused on the screen; his right hand was placed on the keyboard while his left one rested on his leg. On the nearest nightstand, Naruto's camera rested.
Sasuke caught himself thinking how tan Naruto's skin was…
-"Just pick one"- said Sasuke as he stood and with the aid of his crutches made it to the nightstand and took the camera turning it on.
-"No! It has to be a special one!"- exclaimed the blond as he finally lifted his gaze from the screen and made eye contact with the other.
-"Fine then…"- muttered Sasuke and making his way back to the bed, and seated himself next to Naruto again.
Naruto turned towards him and their eyes made contact.
-"I'll give you your picture…"- said Sasuke as he averted his gaze and his right hand traveled to Naruto's left one resting on his thigh.
The blond felt as if the world stopped as he saw how Sasuke's marble-like fingers intertwined themselves with his in an odd yet fitting contrast of white and tan color.
And then a flash went off…
-"There's your picture…"- mumbled Sasuke with his eyes still somewhere else as he handed the camera and untangled his fingers from Naruto's grasp.
Indeed, that was the picture he would be using…
Itachi came to pick them up that day and stunningly as it was, Itachi seemed to be oddly chatty.
-"How lucky are you otouto"- said Itachi as he turned on the engine.
-"What do you mean?"-Sasuke answered back, as Naruto helped him buckle up.
-"You won't have to come to the dinner of course"- said the older male as he adjusted the rear view mirror and his and Naruto's eyes briefly clashed.
-"Shut up…"- grunted Sasuke as he adjusted himself in his seat.
The blonds' frown deepened in a questioning fashion and Itachi could see it through the rearview mirror.
-"Didn't you tell Naruto?"- asked Itachi as he made his way to the hospital parking lot exit.
-"Tell me what?"- asked the blond and his head peek over the space in between the two front seats looking for Sasuke's eyes and answer.
-"Our mother came over to have dinner with us"- commented Itachi as he stopped at a corner and then turned left, towards the main street: -"I was hoping that perhaps you could join us, introduce you to mother as the new addition to the family"- added the male and Naruto could see the malicious glint on his eyes.
He had made Itachi promise never to tell Sasuke about what he had to say to the nurses to let him in; but now, as he saw the smirk forming on the older male's lips he questioned himself if it had been such a good idea to make such a deal with a friend of the devil.
Unknown to the blond, Sasuke was casting a similar reproachful glance at his older brother…
-"I mean… after all… you two are like brothers, ne?"- Said Itachi after what felt like an eternity to the other two occupants of the car, but it wasn't more than a minute or two.
-"Yeah… brothers…"- mumbled Sasuke as he and the blond slumped back in their seats not knowing exactly when it had been that they had moved in the first place.
A silence made its presence in the car for a grand total of 5 minutes; not that it was any surprise to the occupants of the car that Naruto was the one to break it, what did come as a surprise was the words he uttered when he spoke.
-"Are you ashamed of introducing me Sasuke?"- asked Naruto and tried with all his might to make it sound so very casual a question… He failed though…
-"Not ashamed of you… More like the other way around"- answered the older male in place of Sasuke.
Naruto was trying to make eye contact with his friend in the front seat, but he seemed far more interested in the outside scenery passing by his window.
The blue eyed one was presented with the back of a raven head; through the reflection in the window glass he could see Sasuke's dark eyes trying to avoid his.
-"He is ashamed of our mother"-Itachi finally mumbled and their apartment building could be seen a few blocks away.
Naruto slumped back on his seat as he contemplated the events that had unfolded themselves to him through these two past weeks and let out a tired sigh; he had not come anywhere near to understand Sasuke, if anything he had found out how little he did know about the man that he considered his best friend… He felt bad about not knowing him enough, about not being there when he needed him, at not understanding the things he did.
-"If Naruto and I are brothers…"- Sasuke started saying as he tilted his head a little towards the back seat, his eyes making contact with the blue ones in the back through the corner of his eye: -"Does that mean I'm your Aniki?"-and a smirk graced his lips.
-"No"- intervened Itachi: -"I'm Aniki, you could be Onisan"- he said as pulled over the entrance of their apartment building, but kept the engine going.
Sasuke seemed to be musing over that thought as a laugh escaped Naruto's lips.
The blond quickly jumped out of the car and opened the front door of the car extending his hand towards Sasuke flashing him a grin.
-"Here Onisan, I'll help you"- said Naruto with a mocking tone and the raven couldn't help the smirk that formed on his lips.
After saying their goodbyes to the older male, they started making their way into the building.
-"You know what? I prefer Onisama. I think it suits me better"- said Sasuke as he allowed Naruto to open the door for him, a malicious glint could be seen in his eyes and the smirk on his lips.
-"I always knew you had a little bit of a dominatrix in you"- argued Naruto as he pushed the button to call the elevator.
-"Well, who wouldn't want to dominate you? You seem so wild"- added the raven as the elevator opened its doors and the two of them stepped inside.
-"You kinky little bastard"- grunted Naruto bumping his shoulder with Sasuke's.
The rest of the ride was spent in silence.
Their shoulders were still touching when they reached their floor…
The rest of the week Sasuke endlessly prodded the blond to finish his work.
While they had been in the hospital Naruto had manage to take a few photos of pretty cool looking scars and decided to make a collage out of them. He didn't tell the raven that, his own scar, was part of that collage as well, but he guessed what the raven didn't knew couldn't hurt him.
He just needed to complete one more collage, but he had hit bottom.
He could simply not come up with a last idea and so he started freaking out; he would only have one more week before the appointed date of the exhibition and yet he could not finish it. He still had a few more details to arrange on quite a few of the collages and he didn't feel quite comfortable letting them be.
-"You think too much about it"- commented Sasuke offhandedly as he poked his head through Naruto's left shoulder to see what the blond was working on.
-"It's just that I can't think of anything to do the last collage on…"- mumbled the blond and Sasuke found himself mesmerized by the look of concentration Naruto had in his baby blue eyes, he always seems to be so immature, so irresponsible, so unaffected by the things happening around him, but now, as he saw him so absorb in his work he could only think of how very little he did know about the blond.
-"You should do the last one about words"- whispered the raven not very sure why he was whispering, maybe it had to do with the fact that his lips were so very close to Naruto's ear.
-"I don't know…"- answered the blond suppressing a shiver and trying with all his might to sound like he was not affected by the close proximity of Sasuke's body.
Naruto was going through the pictures he had and Sasuke noticed one of himself.
-"Hey! When did you take that one?"- asked the raven upset at having a picture of his feet taken without his permission.
Naruto cringed at the loudness of the voice, Sasuke had not moved an inch and so had yelled in his ear; he felt his heart rate increase a little and wondered if it had to do with the fear caused by the other's anger or if it was due to other unknown reasons.
-"I couldn't help it"- said Naruto slightly turning towards the raven… Sasuke's lips were so close to his: -"You have such pretty feet"- mumbled Naruto as he observed the other's lips seeking for his answer.
-"You are a pervert…"- mumbled the other and his hand rested on Naruto's right shoulder.
-"Don't we all have a kinky little bastard inside of us?"- snickered the blond and noticed how dark eyes seem to drift to his lips.
-"So you are passive. I always wonder…"-whispered Sasuke again, forgetting he was making a joke at the others expenses as he realized the closeness – and why was he whispering again? Oh yeah… the closeness… - and the blond felt the raven's breath gusting over his own lips; Naruto briefly wondered why was Sasuke still so close to him, why was he whispering, and Why, Oh Why! Was he not moving or pushing the raven away.
They were closing the distance separating their lips and they knew it, but somehow were unable to stop themselves and they wouldn't have stopped if it had not been for the sound of the front door being opened and closed.
-"Hello guys!"-called Sakura as she entered the dining room area.
There was something off about the scene. Naruto was on the other side of the room, looking out the window seemingly flustered, Sasuke was leaning against the nearest wall, his crutches lying on the floor and his eyes glued to the floor.
The female inspected both of them.
-"Did you guys fight? Naruto you should know better than to fight a man in crutches!"- said Sakura and she made her way to Sasuke and helped him get his crotches from the floor.
-"We weren't fighting Sakura…"- mumbled the raven as he took the item and made his way to his room trying with all his might to not look at Naruto… But he failed.
Something nagged at the inside of his body and made him turn, at the exact same moment Naruto had and when their gazes collided it all went still for the briefest of seconds and then… it was gone.
The rest of the day both males avoided each other…
The next week started and Naruto found himself feeling a nervous breakdown approaching.
In the mornings he would take his breakfast and eat it back inside his room; he argued it was because he needed to work really hard on his exhibition, but in all honesty; he was avoiding being in the same room as the raven more than he needed to.
Sasuke was doing the same…
He had called Itachi sometime during Tuesday evening and he had his older brother come pick him up and he hadn't come back until around 10 at night; the same thing happened the next two days.
Now, is not like Naruto was jealous or anything of the sort, he was just concerned for Sasuke's well being… yeah, sure, that was it…
So Thursday caught up to him and he still had to find a new inspiration and have done it before Sunday afternoon or he would lose the opportunity of a lifetime.
But somehow had been unable to think of any other thing that wasn't the raven…
Now, he had questioned his sexual preferences a few times in his life, and had come to the conclusion that he was just a little too horny to be considered normal, but what man isn't a horny animal… Maybe he had felt a little attracted to Sasuke at some point, but he had felt attracted to Sakura too so… maybe it was normal to feel some kind of physical attraction towards the people you live with… or maybe he was just trying to justify a behavior that had no other justification but mere physical attraction.
But that was a scary thought… Being in love with the raven would mean complications… WAIT!!! Who said LOVE?!? No! He was not in love with the stoic man!
He heard a knock on the front door that brought him out of his dangerous musings.
When he opened the door he was surprised to see one of Sasuke's coworkers at the entrance.
-"Good evening, is Uchiha home?"- asked the male very properly with the same rigid expression he had come to associate with his housemate.
-"No, he's not. Do you want to leave him a message or do you want come in and wait for him? I don't think he'll be long"- answered Naruto unsure as to why he felt at ease with this man, maybe because he reminded him of the raven.
-"I'll wait. Thank you"- said the other and entered the house following Naruto to the living room area where he was currently going through his photos, yet again, in search of a miraculous inspiration to hit him and get him out of the block.
-"Can I offer you something to drink?"-the blond asked politely to the other male, who answered with a curt shake of his head.
Naruto seated himself way away from the other and somehow felt compelled to make eye contact.
-"So you are the famous housemate? Naruto is it?"- asked the other when he noticed the blonds' attention was on him.
-"Yeah… How do you know?"- asked Naruto as he eyed the other male suspiciously.
-"Uchiha is not very talkative, but when it comes to you, he talks his soul out"- said the other smirking in a way that made Naruto feel as if the other knew something he didn't.
-"He talks about me?"- asked the blond surprised at the statement.
-"Yeah. So much that I feel like I already know you"-commented the other as he eyed the clock on the wall: -"I think I better leave, but could I leave some papers with you?"- he asked standing up.
-"Sure…"- answered Naruto standing up after the man.
-"Well, we got a case of lawsuit on a company so I wanted to bring some of the files over so he could check them and see what he thinks about it"- said the other as he browsed through his briefcase and extracted a few folders and extended them to the blond.
-"I'll let him know"- said Naruto taking the folders from the man.
-"Thanks. I really appreciate it"- said the other as he made his way towards the door.
-"Wait! What's your name?"- asked the blond when he realized this other man seemed to know a lot about him and he didn't even knew his name.
-"Neji. Good Night… Oh, and good luck with your exhibition"- and with that the other man was gone, leaving behind a stunned Naruto.
Many thoughts went through his mind the rest of the night; he didn't even bother pretending he was trying to find inspiration in a place where he knew he was not going to find it and so he sat in his living room watching the shadows cast around and very slowly darkness took over.
When he saw the clock hands showing it was nearing midnight he decided to leave for his own room, even if just to be more comfortable.
But when he got there, darkness also reigning in his room, he heard the lock of the front door being opened and a few hushed voices.
-"I'll think he'll appreciate it"- murmured one of the voices and Naruto couldn't discern whose it was, but he could tell it was a male.
Light filtered through the crack on his wooden door and he could hear the thumping sound of crutches on the living room area.
-"Well… Who know? He's a little complicated… Sometimes I feel like I don't know him…"- whispered the other voice and he immediately recognized it as Sasuke's.
-"You're doing all this for him; I'm pretty sure he'll appreciate it"- answered back the other voice and then the blond heard footsteps making their way back to the entrance: -"You'll give it to him tomorrow or you'll wake him up?"- asked the voice this time sounding fainter.
-"I…"- said Sasuke and Naruto could sense the hesitation underlying in his tone: -"Don't know… I'll just…"- and then a long silence followed by the door being opened and then closed.
Again the muffled sound of steps and thumping came back and made its way in front of Naruto's room.
He could see the shadow of Sasuke's form standing outside the door in the light that filtered through the bottom and Naruto found himself mesmerized by it.
It was in this moment that he realized he had not really seen or spoken to the raven in days and he suddenly felt this pulsing need to miss him, but was afraid of the feelings and sensations it brought with it, and so he pushed it back down…
But he knew it was bound to come back at some point and bite him in the ass…
He wondered if the raven was going to knock on his door or if he would just walk back to his room, and close the door until the next morning.
The blond could almost see Sasuke standing at his door, hesitantly looking at the doorknob in front of him, wondering to himself if he should open or not. And then he saw the shadow shift a little and turn around, that's what triggered his next move.
Without knowing how or when, he was now standing at the doorway seeing the retreating form of the raven.
-"Wait!"-said Naruto and it sounded too loud and needy for his liking, but when his and Sasuke's eyes collided he forgot all about it.
The emotions that were flickering through the fair skinned face were hard to describe and sort out, it went from confusion to surprise, to anger and then happiness and then… Naruto wondered if he had that same indescribable expression on his features.
-"I…"- mumbled the blonde and then his mind went blank… He… what?
There were a million things he wanted to ask the raven; like where had he been?, how was his leg?, had he gone on working these few days that they had not seen each other? who was the person that he had came in with?… why had he not stopped or pushed the blond away when they had almost kissed a few days ago…?
But he asked none… he felt contempt with just watching all those raging emotions crossing through his pale face. He liked it, the normally devoid-of-all-emotion features was flaring with such beautiful intensity.
And then it was gone…
Sasuke schooled his expression to his customary stoic one and averted his gaze towards his own bedroom door a few steps to his right.
Naruto found himself feeling lonely and sad when Sasuke's charcoal dark eyes left his.
-"Neji, your coworker came over"- stated Naruto noticing for the first time the digital camera Sasuke was holding in his left hand: -"He left something for you"- mumbled the blond as his eyes traveled through Sasuke's body, in search of other details he might have missed: -"Something about a lawsuit or something of the sort"-he finished and looked at Sasuke's face in search of an answer he didn't get.
-"Oh… thanks"-murmured the other and his temple seemed to loosen up a little.
-"They're over there in the coffee table"- said Naruto and took a step towards it, but soon regretted it when the other tensed up again.
Sasuke was fidgeting with the strap of the camera on his left hand, his eyes still looking somewhere else but the blond in front of him.
-"I…"- started the raven, but then his lips closed up in a thin line.
-"You…?"- asked Naruto hesitantly and wanted to take another step towards the other male, but stopped himself in fear of him moving further away.
-"I… Well me and Itachi… well, we…"- Sasuke was stumbling with the words and as much as Naruto wanted to laugh at it, he just couldn't, he had never seen the raven show that side of him, and so he decided to cherish this moment.
The raven was having trouble organizing his ideas, it had been a long day and he had not expected to see the blond so soon and certainly he had not planned on tell him about what he had been doing these past days.
But as the blue eyed man kept his silence, urging him to talk, he decided that he would tell the blond what he had wanted to, even if it was the last thing he did… But damned be his pathetic communicative skills!
-"Yeah, so we… Me and Itachi…"-this was proving to be more difficult; why had nobody taught him how to manage emotions? Stupid humans and their emotions…
-"As articulate as ever Sasuke-kun"-the blond commented mockingly with a self sufficient smirk plastered on his lips.
-"Moron"- mumbled the raven and the air in the room changed, lifting the tension up.
Naruto felt this intriguing strong pulsing need to take another step that would bring him closer to the other male; he didn't necessarily understood it, but it felt good, kinda like a tingle going through his body, making him yearn for the proximity.
They both smirked at each other not knowing why they felt like accomplices of an unperpetrated crime, but not really caring at the moment.
-"Here"- said Sasuke finally closing the distance between the two, handing Naruto the camera he was holding, and this somehow made them both feel so… happy? It sounded so foolish and childish to feel happy at such a thing, but it was hard to describe the feeling.
-"What is it?"- asked the tanned man as he turned the camera on.
-"We took some photos and… well, you could use them for one of your collages for the exhibition"- mumbled Sasuke again averting his gaze.
The first picture that appeared in the screen camera was one in which there seemed to be a man holding a sign which read: I hate my job.
Now Naruto was known for his minimal abilities at noticing details, but he somehow recognized the briefcase lying next to the man's right leg as the one "Neji" had brought in with him that evening. And although he could not see the man's face, he was almost sure that behind that big sign, he would be finding the same man that had seated himself in his living room.
The next pictures were pretty similar, in each you could see a different body part showing, but none of them showed their owners face, and Naruto could easily figure out why.
These were secrets people were sharing through the words written in those big signs.
When Naruto lifted his gaze he was surprised to find black questioning eyes resting on him, but when the owner noticed he had been caught red handed, he averted his gaze again.
-"Wow! Sasuke, these are great! Who knew you were so artistic! Thank you! Really, you practically saved my ass!"- exclaimed the blond with a grin adorning his lips.
-"Well I do need that ASS"- commented Sasuke offhandedly, but didn't realize the implication of what he had said until it reached his own ears.
-"If you so badly want my ass all you have to do is ask"-said Naruto as a joke, but he somehow felt that his tone sounded a little too serious when he had said it.
Sasuke's eyes turned towards blue ones and for a moment Naruto thought the raven was really going to ask FOR IT… And his heart skipped a few beats, but he wasn't sure why.
-"Maybe one day…"- mumbled the raven mostly to himself and Naruto was very sure it wasn't a comment meant for him to hear, but he did; however, he decided not to comment on it.
-"Go to bed, you look kind of tired"- said the blond after a moment and looked at the door standing next to his own and, for unknown reasons, hating it a little.
-"You're one to talk"- commented the other as he started making his way to his own room; when he finally reached the door knob he turned to the blond and said: -" I specially liked the picture number 94"- and just like that his door was closed.
When Naruto was preparing himself to go to sleep he searched through the pictures until he reached the number 94.
It was a sign that read: I wanted to kiss you…
Holding the sign Naruto could see Sasuke's hand as the only visible body part…