Damn! Naruto thought. It's starting to rain.
Naruto was busy helping Iruka clean the dishes. He tried his best not to pay attention to his music teacher, Itachi Uchiha, but he knew better than that. Iruka observed Naruto's behavior around Itachi plenty of times to know that whenever the raven-haired teenager came by, Naruto would practically pounce on him and give him more attention than the poor chap probably needed. A severe punishment for Naruto would be having Itachi stay the night and not be able to tackle him the way he usually does. However, this was not the true concern for either of them.
In the living room, Itachi was busy playing a Mayan lullaby on his guitar without looking at anyone else but hearing each note perfectly. If he were to be mistaken in a note, he would tweak his guitar string and play it over before he got to the tricky parts. Kiba, Chouji, and Shikamaru watched Itachi in suspicion as if they were waiting for him to swing the instrument and bash someone in the head with it. Itachi had that type of air around him to do it, so why not think he could? Comically, when they notice him scrunch his eyebrows because of some oddness with the stringed instrument, they would hold their breath and ready themselves for some type of horrible anger management issue. When nothing happened, they would breathe heavily and go back to calmly watching.
Minutes went by. Impatiently, Kiba begin questioning the more attractive male before him. He only thought he was attractive for his bad boy attitude and unmoved stoic mask; also, his hair made him look more--dare he say--feminine?
"Hey, mister?"
"Yes, boy?" Itachi smoothly asked, not opening his eyes or halt playing.
"You're Itachi, right?" Kiba asked. "Sasuke's older brother?"
"I am," Itachi answers in his smooth tone.
"How do you know Naruto if Sasuke doesn't talk to him, or, better yet, talk about him?" Shikamaru and Chouji nod in agreement to the question Kiba asked.
"I have known Naruto since he was eight years old. Five years ago, I was leaving R. M. Middle School for my eighth grade year. Due to an argument, I hid away to the old choir room and grabbed an old acoustic guitar to calm my nerves. I saw some kid with whiskers on his face just staring at me, or is it the truth is that he somehow found me."
"Found you?" Chouji asked with interest.
"When I asked him how he got inside a locked room, he said he was trying to find out who was playing music and stumbled in when he heard the guitar playing coming from me. Since then, he kept sneaking in the room to watch most of the time. I taught him how to play three things during that time: the piano, the synthesizer, and the guitar."
Shikamaru and Chouji came across the same shocking thought. Usually, they would catch Naruto borrowing certain books from the library that consisted of literature and music genre. And when they snuck in his bedroom to scare him once, he was humming--fairly well I might add--a poem in his own pop rhythm and drum beat. They ended up scaring him anyway, but questioned what Naruto was hiding when he crept around with these weird interests. Kiba also came across a thought. Occassionally, he would see Naruto designing posters of musical groups or designing certain screenshots based on a music video. Then the conclusion hit them, Itachi was influencing him to get into music since he had the potential.
Itachi continued speaking. This time he stopped playing his guitar and placed it on the side of the couch. "A few weeks later, he dragged me here to see his dad and--"
"Hey, Itachi, are you hungry or thirsty by any chance?" Naruto blurted.
"Aw, geez, Naruto! You messed up a perfectly good story just now, ya twerp!" Shikamaru complained.
"Huh?" Naruto blankly questioned.
"If all conversations are well and done, I would like to get to the point of Itachi being here," Iruka sat in his lounge chair. "Now then, earlier today was a bit of a hassle in school. Why don't you boys explain the problem?"
Don't tell me Iruka is trying to get me in trouble! Naruto thought. Better keep it safe and be honest about this.
Naruto took a quick glance at Itachi to see if his eyes were still closed. Unfortunately, they were nice and open. His head began to droop down a little to avoid the intense stare, but he quickly shook his head and grew frustrated for the fault being placed on his shoulders.
"Look, it wasn't my fault!" Naruto shouted, hands banging on the table.
"I'm sure it wasn't, so try to explain the situation as calmly as you can," Itachi said.
"Don't worry, Naruto," Chouji reassured, giving a thumbs up, "I got your back."
"Yeah, you got eye witnesses here!" Kiba also reassured.
"Just get to the drama already," Shikamaru argued.
"Okay, this is how it goes," Naruto readies himself then continues. "Almost everyone and their grandma knows I have this major crush, which I'm getting over, on Sakura Haruno. She likes Sasuke, your brother, but has this high school freshmen, Kankuro, as her boyfriend so Sasuke can be jealous of her and him. Kankuro has been doing nothing but treating Sakura like some human puppet and I hate it!"
"There were a lot of people in our class trying to tell her how and when to dump him," Kiba added, "but she kept trying to work her relationship out until Sasuke noticed the trouble she's in to save her."
"Today, Kankuro was being a total ass. He hit Sakura on her neck and I don't know I guess I just lost it and decided to attack," Naruto explained, fisting his hands.
"I turned around the corner and saw the fight from there," Kiba threw in. "So I helped out until that douchebag had the nerve to call some other guys."
"Hey, that's when I came in!" Chouji proudly exclaimed. "Then I called Shikamaru and--"
"I got mixed into the fight," Shikamaru complained.
"Yes, and then you were stuck in the nurses' office," Iruka added. "Now explain the running away situation."
Naruto was silent for a moment. He thought about it, and spoke in a whisper tone almost inaudible.
"Um, that's... I was trying to..."
"You were put under too much frustration," Itachi suggested, earning a nod from Naruto. "Well, you have three options for your punishment, which I'm assuming is the reason for your father calling me, and you best decide tonight what that option will be. You weren't wrong in wanting to make Kankuro apologize, but you went about this the wrong way. Your friends will be under different measures, I'm sure, but (since they were involved) they will suffer watching you."
"What's the options?" Naruto asks regretfully.
"You can be struck twenty times under a belt, volunteer working with the janitor and/or cafeteria lady, or you can show everyone what you were doing before Sasuke found you in your hiding place..."
"I'll take that last one for six hundred, please!" Naruto chose, raising his hand high in the air.
"Are you sure about that?" Itachi asked.
"No, I'm not. But I refuse to be embarassed with a whipping or voluntarily cleaning toilets!" Naruto argued. "Shika-chan, grab that guitar for me."
"Before you even think about touching that guitar, let me make something perfectly clear with you..." Itachi growled, glaring. "There will be no more hiding, Naruto. Your punishment for the time being is to show exactly what you were doing, and any alterations in what happened will cost you."
Everyone in the room--except Itachi--got scared by Itachi's voice. Naruto began to realize that he couldn't play this off anymore and started trembling in disbelief. His eyes were starting to water, but he shook them off and took the guitar. He grew hesitant, afraid. His hand was shaking immensely until a note poured out then some more and a few more until a voice came out.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
We were young and new at just about everything
Like little babies.
Its been fun, guys
And I've realized
Today seems like the last time I might ever see your face
But I'll keep on hopin to be in touch
And remember how much fun
It was to be with you
Yesteryear feels like yesterhour
Tomorrow seems like next year
But how time has passed
How great our chances are now
Pass this on
This is our song
I'll see you
Sometime soon
Naruto stopped playing the guitar, mostly because he didn't know how to continue the song. Itachi liked the song just fine, but everyone else practically tackled Naruto to the floor.
"Dude that was awesome!" Chouji exclaimed.
"Your voice was very strong!" Iruka complimented.
"Why didn't you say you could sing that good?" Shikamaru asked, proud that he had a talented friend.
"Yeah, ya jerk!" Kiba shouted, punching Naruto in the back multiple times. "What's with the friggin secrets?"
"It was supposed to be a surprise for graduation! Don't be so upset!" Naruto shouted, trying to get free from all the attention.
"That was a graduation song?" Chouji asked.
"It was supposed to be until this ruined the surprise!" Naruto shouted painfully, rubbing the aching of his back.
The doorbell rang. Chouji's father came to get Chouji, then Shikamaru's father came following behind, and then Kiba's sister boys promised to call each other once they got home and then left.
It rained even more now. Naruto was practicing his new guitar lessons and Iruka was finishing up researching on a school Naruto had chosen to apply to for high school. There was a program for young musicians, college preparatory environment, and the school wasn't all that huge. But one thing tampered with Iruka's mind: Naruto and his choice of schools versus a financial source.
Itachi had come out of the guest room he was going to be staying in for the night but had a few problems in his attire. He was wearing no shirt, was still wet and had wet muscles showing, his tattoo was visible, and his hair was down. (We deem that sexy now-a-days, but someone we must've forgot to mention that to him.) Naruto had taken a quick look to see Itachi and immediately turned pink. Itachi noticed the pause in guitar and looked at Naruto to see him go back to it with pink tingling in his cheeks.
"Naruto?" Itachi called. "Where do you plan on going for high school since you planned on shocking the world with this graduation song of yours?"
"I want to go to Gakuen Konoha," Naruto answered.
"Yes, well, let's hope they give you a loan or something," Iruka chimed, looking at the price for tuition.
"I wanted to sign up for the music camp and all, you know. They give away money for tuition there," Naruto delightfully explained.
"Oh, where did that confidence come from? A moment ago, you were going to cry to avoid showing your music," Itachi teased, gesturing movements with his wrists and hands.
"Actually, I have you and dad to thank," Naruto says.
"Where do I come in on this? I'm doing absolutely nothing," Iruka argued.
"Without you, I wouldn't be able to see Itachi or take lessons from him. And I wouldn't have been able to afford the CDs and books I've bought so far for school and home. Also, if you weren't so tolerant of my badass, I probably would be out on the streets. So, Itachi-sensei. Otou-san. Arigatou saiimase. Because you were always there for me."
"... ... Unfortunately, I will not be with you on your way to school," Itachi responds.
"What!? Why?" Naruto questions.
"I'll be graduating from high school next year, so it's going to be pretty busy for me," Itachi explains."I'll always be there for you, this will never change. You just won't see me, that's all."
Iruka was quiet. Naruto was shocked by this, but he dragged Itachi outside in the rain and shut the door behind him. Iruka was even more confused when he saw it all happened, but he waited for them to come back.
Naruto was crying. Itachi figured he would and waited for him to say something.
"You're a weird guy, you know that?" Naruto chuckled, tears coming down. "But I like that you're weird because... it's different... You're not like anyone else, you know? I loved you, Itachi-sensei, but I guess it's stupid now."
Itachi kissed him."Nothing is ever stupid coming from you, Naruto. Those feelings... will never be forgotten. So long as you remember something about me such as my differences, I will always be with you no matter what. Just as you were always here waiting for me, I will be elsewhere waiting for you to find me just as you did the first time we met."
Naruto smiled through his tears, "Arigatou, Itachi-sensei."
~~~~~~~~Whoo-hoo! It's done! The first section of series is over with! Okay, when you leave this page please be sure to either message me to suggest changes. You all are a lovely audience, and I would say I love you but I'm not the type to love a stranger. Later!!! |=3