Chapter 9
Disclaimer: The title Naruto and anything that has to with it belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. But Uzumaki Naruto's ass belongs solely and wholly to the great Uchiha Sasuke.
And another chapter. This made my brain ache. Hints of drama and angst appears. Hope you also liked this one ^^
Only a thin line separates a genius from a fool.
Shikamaru had crossed this boundary. His sharp wits that Naruto once looked up to bordered on insanity. That was the only probable explanation on why he had committed this atrocious deed.
Who in their right minds would kidnap a harmless but a tad creepy person? Then you restrain him and ask your male friend to kiss him? The genius was now a madman, his glorious mind demented. His rational side probably collapsed from the input of too much knowledge. Too much of anything tend to be bad for your health.
Naruto blinked, figuring out if this was all a big bad joke or not. There was no hint of humor on the black-haired genius' face. He turned his eyes on Kiba and Chouji. The two was dumbfounded. What in the hell's name entered the mind of their lazy and respectable friend? Why would he want Naruto to kiss their kidnapped victim?
"Kiss him. Or—" Shikamaru impatiently fished his cell phone out of his pocket. He let the monitor faced the blonde, "I'll show this to Sakura and her multitude of fan girls. Imagine her reaction and especially the groups actions that they would be taking once they found out who was the attacker in that infamous shoot."
The small screen displayed a picture of two people kissing. Naruto and Sasuke, trapped in a passionate and torrid lip lock just an hour ago. The blonde didn't look like as if he was caught in surprise; he looked so willing with his hands wrapped around the actor's neck. He was so much in rapt with that kiss that he didn't even notice his own actions.
"Shit." When was that picture taken? Looking at the earlier incident in the third person point of view looked so different. He could've sworn that they looked like a real couple!
"Do it now. I'll count from one to five. One…"
"Two." Naruto dashed for his life. Without too much thought, he straddled the boy's lap, removed the gag and hurriedly kissed him on the lips.
And boy, was it awkward or what.
Firstly, he was not into guys. This kiss felt different from the one he and that raven-haired actor shared. It might have missed his thinking that Sasuke was another guy.
No sparks, confusion or overwhelming feelings. It was just plain, awkward and a tad gross. He pushed the other boy but stilled when he felt a wet appendage trying to enter his mouth. Sai the creep was seriously going to kiss him!
This was a major eewiness moment.
He roughly shoved Sai. Getting his handkerchief, he furiously rubbed his lips. He wanted to puke. He continued chafing his mouth raw, not caring if he wiped it to oblivion. At least with his mouth gone so is this horrible feeling. Anger swept over his being. He hated everyone right this moment, everyone especially Shikamaru.
"You stupid, crazy, lazy bum! Some kind of friend you turn out to be," he spat at the genius who had a very satisfied look. Before Naruto could attack and harm him, Shikamaru helped the lying senior and helped him sit up again. Sai licked his lips and had a very fake smile on his face.
"Is this a surprise bachelor party? I am very much one right now. Could you remove my blindfold so I could see the stripper?"
"Thank you, senpai," the lazy brunette hit the back of Sai's neck and the latter fell into a dead slump. Naruto was about to kick the pale senior for his comment but his friend beat him to it. He decided that he was going to kick Shikamaru twice as hard.
"Before you kick me, I had my reasons for doing this, unreasonable as it may seem," the genius sat on a chair and moved another to face him. He motioned the blonde to take the seat.
The boy sat and resisted his urges of clubbing, mangling, chopping, poisoning or pushing Shikamaru off the Eifel Towers to kill him off. He leveled his murdering drives, seeing Nara dead and buried thousands of feet close to the Earth's core.
"How did it feel kissing Sai?"
A blonde brow twitched. He was going to give in to his criminal instincts. "How did I feel? You want to feel how is it to look at your torso from the floor of this room?"
The eternally-bored looking boy ignored the threat and continued on his questioning, "Answers. Did it feel different from Uchiha's?"
Naruto stopped planning on how to best carry out his friend's detailed and gory demise. What was Shikamaru getting at? Whatever Shikamaru did, there was bound to be a plausible reasoning behind it. Forgetting his anger and trusting his friend, he began to talk.
"It was gross, wrong and totally off. But with the bastard…I don't know," another blush decorated his face and biting his lower lip, "You're the mentally advanced one. You do the math."
He lowered his gaze on the floor, finding it more interesting than the conversation they were having.
He heard a troubled sigh before he heard the other resume his explanation.
"Hmm. This was an experiment," Shikamaru stretched his arms and his shoulder sockets 'popped'. Naruto raised his head and glared.
"I became your test subject?! I really ought to—"
"To test your tendencies, moron," the brunette cut off the blonde.
"Tendencies?"
"Homosexual ones," Naruto was about to violently react but Shikamaru cut him off once again before continuing, "The probability of you being gay was about 50 percent when you responded to Sasuke's kiss."
"Do you want to kiss Sabaku Gaara of section three?"
"I'm not suicidal, not a masochist and not GAY."
"Hyuuga Neji?"
"How about I let you kiss him instead?"
"Uchiha?"
No comment.
"I doubt you'll get kissy-kissy with other guys. I think Sasuke knocks you in this one."
"You are physically attracted to him though majority of your emotions are still with Sakura. You're gay for the Uchiha."
The blonde fell into deep thinking, "But I still love Sakura-chan…"
"Uh-huh. This could be a case of a newly hatched or newborn animal recognizing the first living thing it sees as its parent-figure," the genius sighed and worked his mind into further elaborating his theory.
"In the animal kingdom, it's called imprinting. Newly hatched or newborn animal is able to recognize its own parents from among other individuals of the same species. It's a survival method, ensuring that the newborn sticks to its own breed."
"In the same way, Uchiha was your first kiss and having it to be the first kind of that nature –"
"I became attracted to him? Is that even possible?" the blonde concluded.
"It's a possibility."
Both fell in silence.
Chouji cleared his throat and broke the peace, "Uhmm, so what do we do with this guy?" he pointed to the prone figure on the floor.
"Dump him anywhere. Just make sure he lives through this night," Nara carelessly waved his hand, not really thinking about his test subject number two. His usefulness was already done.
"Sheez. You're the troublesome one," Kiba grumbled as he and his chubby friend heaved the unconscious man.
Shikamaru looked at his blonde friend who was still contemplating over things. This Cupid-induced emotion called love was a very messy business. He cringed, remembering his own heart-shaped problems.
"Shikamaru."
"You'll treat me to ramen. I'll order the biggest, tastiest and the most expensive kind," Naruto grinned, making his slightly chubby cheeks stretched into a form reminiscent of a fox.
His wallet was also in trouble.
He concluded two things; 1) Naruto was physically attracted to a guy and; 2) Sasuke was more than attracted to the blonde.
Friends are so troublesome. But without them, his life would be plain and boring as he was.
He remembered something about how scientifically love's first stage was physical fascination.
Will Naruto also fall in love with his rival?
Over thinking and jumping to conclusions would not help him to see the future.
Oh well. He'll get to that point when he's already there.
ooooo
"Where are we going to leave this guy?" the dog-lover wiped the beads of sweat accumulated on his fore head. He felt like a criminal for doing this. Although abducting someone is considered a crime so he was already a criminal.
A criminal never caught in act was never a criminal. Or something of that likes.
On the back of his mind (perhaps his rusting conscience) told him that he was the indirect cause of putting his best friend's love life in peril and sexuality in question.
If abandoning this outwardly dead body was his consequence, he would pay for it.
"Shika said anywhere. This is anywhere," Chouji let the feet of the tall boy drop. Kiba followed suit, dumping Sai in the middle landing between the first and second floor.
Kiba's phone vibrated, the sound indicating the arrival of a message. He pushed a few buttons and returned it to his pant pocket afterwards.
"Naruto and Shikamaru are at the gate with our bags. Let's go."
They both didn't notice the third shadow on their backs.
ooooo
She saw as those two shadows leave something in the mid landing. It was about 7 pm and a bit dark so she saw only the outlines. She trotted downwards and bending on her knees, she poked the bundle.
No reaction from the body. Was it bullied, raped or murdered?
Not that she cared enough to report it. More important things required her attention. Things like boys and attracting more boys.
"Well, whatever. Someone will find it anyways," she skipped along the steps and left that body lying there. "Eventually."
The following Friday morning, news of a syndicate abducting students spread like wildfire in the campus. According to sources, they blindfold and restrain the unwilling victim and bring him to a room. Then they will give you a free stripping show before knocking the consciousness out of the student. The victims were boys. Girls began to fear for their safety and Sasuke's whereas the boys eagerly wait for them to be the next victim. No one says no to a free naked-dancing.
It was disregarded as an isolated case and the result of inhaling too much paint fumes.
ooooo
"Cut! Good job, everyone!" the director hopped off his seat and rushed to the main stars.
"You two really are the best! We would be finishing this shoot in two months," he blindly ran and tried to hug Sasuke, who easily sidestepped the attack. The obviously gay (wondered how Kiba missed this genuine gay in his gay comments?) director landed on a pair of soft, cushy pillows, namely Temari's breasts. The older man puffed his cheeks in disappointment. When would he get the chance to be embraced in those solid steel of tempting, Uchiha flesh?
"Thanks," the blonde girl tapped the older man's shoulder in mock sympathy and followed Sasuke. She quickly fell along his steps. She launched an eager conversation. Temari knew the boy would not listen but she needed a pair of willing ears to listen. Sasuke was not willing but he has ears. That works the same way.
"Being in love is really great!"
"Hn." Oh well. His response was not required. His hearing parts were the most important. She would fry them out in her rambling.
"I've found my prince. Could you believe that?" the actress twirled in one foot. She stopped with his hands clasped in front of her chest, one foot sticking out in the air like a ballerina's. She looked at the sky with her green eyes twinkling, seeing probably the face of his 'prince'.
"His hair is ponytailed that it resembled a pineapple, black droopy eyes that never gave out his emotion, clothes in disarray and he had no manners whatsoever… All I got was his name."
The description was far from the ideal prince, but hey everyone has their own perceptions. But it made a familiar mental picture in the raven-haired boy's mind. Could it possibly be…?
"Nara Shikamaru?" he asked in a monotone.
She rapidly twisted her body to face him and hopped dangerously in one foot close to him. The actor backed off a little. She had a very serious expression on her face and with a very controlled voice said, "You know him?"
"He's…uh… my classmate."
"You have his number?"
"Here," his phone was quickly snatched and the blonde actress madly saved the number to her own phone. She shrieked and made a pirouette before slamming his hands heavily on Sasuke's shoulders.
"I owe you one."
Sasuke was left coughing in a cloud of smoke.]
In the Nara household, Shikamaru felt his troublesome radar picking up troubling vibes. He hoped that it would fail him for once.
Your knight princess in shining dress' coming, my unconventional prince.
ooooo
The apartment where Naruto lived was spacious for a teenager. The design was simple; walls painted in white with brown accents. A bulky but comfortable faded orange three-seat sofa with blue swirls was in the center, with a coffee table and a bookshelf behind containing manga volumes and barely-used encyclopedia set. There was also a TV set with a mini-component. A tiled kitchen with complete appliances and bathroom was behind the counter top. A door leads to his bedroom where a small balcony overlooked the Konoha forest.
The rent and the rest of his expenses were paid by his famous and perverted novelist grand uncle, Jiraiya. The wall behind the sofa contained a number of picture frames. He smiled when he saw the biggest one. His 5 year old self were being embraced by a redheaded woman with a hearty smile and an older blonde copy of himself who was grinning.
His mother was a beautiful woman with a rambunctious attitude which Naruto had inherited along with the shape of her eyes. Most of his physical traits came from his father. Nostalgia hit him, trapping him in the memories of the distant past.
When was the last time he had felt the security of having a warm and loving family?
He went to the bookshelf, unearthing an ancient movie poster. A boy and a girl sat back to back on top of the hill. The girl was in night time while the boy was in the rising sun. In bold black letters, the title was written: "Truth's Sanctuary".
It was the exact movie that they were making a remake with the Uchiha in the lead role. It was under a different title, director and actors but the same story.
There was no business like show business. The dirtiest and the vilest kind of trade existed in this area. It made people blind with false shimmers of fame and threw the same people in the canals of despair and ruins.
The limelight that ruined his childhood and family.
The blonde slapped his cheeks, waking himself from reminiscing the past. He belonged in the present right now.
Locking the door, he faced the stairs and in a cheerful voice, shouted "This is going to be a good day!"
"Shut up! People are sleeping."
He ran downwards and laughed like a loon.
He always hoped for the best after all.
ooooo
This was the worst day.
Sasuke brooded over the laboratory. His Naruto and the pink-haired rival of his were having the time of their lives laughing. Where were the usual physical assaults and insults from Sakura?
Hard to admit, but they looked perfect together. The girl's melodious laugh matched Naruto's lively cackle, ringing together in harmony.
He scowled. He was not a violent person, but right now he wanted to lock the girl in an airtight container and let her float along the sea for eternity. He wanted to tear those two apart.
They were the only three in the lab, finishing the teacher's request. He tried to ignore on how close the two were, Sakura's hand tapping lightly the blonde's shoulder in humor.
"That day in first year was unforgettable! I wish I've bought a camera to take that Kabuto's face!" Naruto clutched his stomach in laughter.
"Yeah! He looked like a walking mummy, with all those tissues wetly wrapped around him. Suits him since he's so obsessed over corpses," the pink-haired grinned widely.
"I really missed this…" the blonde boy smiled serenely at the girl who was wiping giggle-tears from her eyes.
"It surely had been a long time since we last talked like this. Truce?"
"But Sakura-chan," Naruto whined, "We never fought. You just decided to abuse me physically!"
"Idiot!" Slam
"Ouch!"
"Haha, sorry. Force of habit."
Sakura turned to Sasuke, "Are you finish, Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn," he smoothly handed the papers to her. Naruto stuck his tongue at the actor before clumsily putting his paper on top of Sakura's. The girl exited, motioning for the two boys to wait for her.
His most important person were only a few inches away from his reach but Sasuke could never have him knowing that Naruto's heart was already occupied by someone else.
The three of them were the perfect triangle points. He loves Naruto. The blonde likes Sakura. The girl adored him the most. The lines never connected in the way that they want it to be.
He wanted to be with Naruto the most.
Sasuke wanted a part of the boy's life. He wanted to share the ups and downs, tears and joys, love and hate. Why was it so impossible?
No matter how much he tries to get his feelings across, it just won't reach.
"Welcome back."
The blonde excitedly turned to the door, expecting the girl to be there. He scowled at the raven-haired boy but was caught off guard. He was quickly pulled in a brutal kiss. All Sasuke's jealousy, frustration, desperation and disappointment leaked out in that supposedly romantic action. He bit Naruto's lower lip, making the blonde whimper in pain. He thrust his tongue harshly, forcing the other boy to respond.
Please. Just for once, tell me that I'm not alone.
Answer me.
Gravity pulled him down, his chair tumbling with him. Naruto stood at his front, trembling in anger and embarrassment. His lips were swollen and bruised.
"You are such a bastard," the blonde stomped out of the lab.
He ran a hand over the silky smooth locks of his hair. He laughed at the irony of his life.
"Sasuke-kun, what happened are you alright?"Sakura asked in a worried voice. He never noticed her.
He was not perfect. What the people believed that he was far from his true self. He was far from perfection.
He was just an insecure, emotionally stunted teenager.
Sasuke was wanted by almost everyone. But the only one who mattered and the only one that he wanted didn't want him.
It hurts so much. Love was never easy. Loving and expecting to be loved in return hurts.
ooooo
Anything was better than being alone with that boy.
Naruto could not help but pity and resent the boy at the same time. The kiss was desperate; not the same confident action that Sasuke always produced.
Was their first kiss that big deal for him?
He hated Sasuke not just because he was a rival for Sakura but for the image that he always project. He didn't act like a human once he was off-screen.
It made his head hurt. And he felt a small pang in his heart.
He wanted this to end. He'll end this.
Everything would end by the finishing of the classes this day.
Sasuke and Naruto, along with the other character are all human in here. They think, act and move like humans. I guess the drama and angst could not be avoided for their characters to develop more. Oh well.
Review. They'll make my day :)