Chapter 22: Clothes?! Emotions?! An attic?! Posters?!
Six months, two weeks and four days. That's how long it had been since Naruto had woken up with a grin.
'Hmmm.'
He rolled over to where he knew warmth had to be and found . . . an empty dip the bed. Not right. He sat up with a frown.
Sasuke was in a chair against the wall, fully dressed. Perfect hair, full imperial regalia. He couldn't make out Sasuke's expression because of the morning light and the boy's hair.
'Good morning,' Naruto said cheerfully. He stretched and flopped back onto the bed.
'Out.'
Naruto straightened up again. His head turned. 'What?'
'Out.' Sasuke nodded at a pile of Naruto's clothes. 'Now.'
The blond boy's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Was he serious? This had to be a joke. 'After last night?'
Sasuke's posture stiffened and the little of his face Naruto could make out was expressionless. 'You've stayed too long already.'
Naruto threw the covers off in a huff and stood in front of Sasuke. The prince's eyes gave an involuntary foray downwards. Now at least he showed some bloody expression.
'Geez – explain!' Naruto said angrily, blushing lightly.
'It's not . . . practical.'
'What?! Practical! Practical? Practical my arse!'
The prince stood and walked to the closed window, suppressing a grin. 'We can't be in a relationship.'
'Come again?'
Sasuke did a double take, thinking, is Naruto actually capable of that level of innuendo? Any level of innuendo, for that matter.
'Can't?' Naruto almost shouted when Sasuke said nothing. 'Can't?'
'It's just not possible. I can't explain, but that's the way it is. My word is final.'
'Ruling is going to your head. Your word is not final. Trust me. There's no can't.'
'It's impossible. Out.'
'No.'
'Do you want me to force you?'
'Try.' Naruto said with a grin. He winked for good measure. It was worth the look of momentary shock on Sasuke's face.
'Seriously, Naruto, you have to leave this room, leave the palace, leave the city. Before you do anything else. Go back to being a pirate – I though that was what you wanted anyway. Giving up?' Sasuke asked with an arrogant smirk.
'No! I never give up! That's my way of . . . being a pirate.' He frowned into his clenched fist. He didn't know why he just said that, but it really fit. He clenched his fist again and raised it. 'Yes, my way of the pirate!'
Sasuke cocked an eyebrow then picked up Naruto's clothes. 'You've got put these on.'
'I'll never put those on!'
'Interesting approach to the day, baka. It'll make the guard's job of removing you more interesting, at least. Not that I would bother to call them, though. I could kick you out with ease.'
'Again, just try it,' Naruto seethed. After searching for so long, he was not giving up now. He would never give up. Whatever current madness Sasuke had could be dealt with. It just had to be. He'd been a smart-arse before and that hadn't lasted long, so it wouldn't again. Naruto just had to get better at dealing with it – get a lot of practice. He couldn't wait.
Sasuke tried to reach out and grab his shoulder, but Naruto slapped it away, twisting Sasuke's arm and using it to bring him close enough to whisper in his ear, 'I think you'll find it a bit more tricky now.'
Sasuke seethed liquid indignation. It looked nicely like a blush. The next thing Naruto knew, his legs had been whipped out from underneath him and his back hit the floor with a painful thud. Then Sasuke straddled him and kept his arms down while trying to get his shirt onto him at the same time. 'You have to put – stop struggling! – these on!'
All Naruto wondered was, 'Why didn't you start with the pants?' which made Sasuke get redder. Anger or blushing? Hopefully the latter. He tried to kick him off but was thrown down again and then they both heard a knock.
They froze - Naruto became aware of the fact that he was starkers on the carpet, straddled by and struggling with the imperial, grand high prince. He hoped it wasn't guards.
Sasuke rolled Naruto under the bed and shoved his clothes under after him, hissing, 'Stay there and get dressed.'
xXx
The prince straightened his clothing and glanced in a mirror to see if his hair had been struck down by imperfection. It had not. It would . . . do. He composed his features and turned to the door at Suigetsu entered. He almost sighed in relief.
Suigetsu glanced around the chamber, his expert eyes noticing the slightest differences from the night before – moved furniture, slightly torn curtains, scratch-marks on the bed-posts – Sasuke had tried his best, but little things like this stuck out, evidently. The thing that made Suigetsu finally raise his eyebrows in amusement were the two dips in the bed. Before Sasuke could speak, Suigetsu bloody-well looked under the bed, his pointed teeth revealed by his grin.
'You have a naked blond boy under your bed.' The boy said in a level voice.
'I'm half dressed! You fool!' came the loud and indignant exclamation from the floor.
'One leg doesn't count.'
'I'm a quarter dressed, then!' Naruto insisted.
Suigetsu looked at Sasuke and asked just as levelly. 'Why do you have a stupid, naked blond boy under your bed, your majesty?'
Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose and gave a delicate shake of his head, 'Don't ask.'
Suigetsu nodded once, his eyes laughing, savouring some cruel humour, no doubt.
Naruto rolled out from under the bed, at least with his pants on. Sasuke didn't know whether to appreciate this for the moment, as the boy did have a beautifully attractive back, and arms, and neck and – the prince shook his head. This was no time to get lost in thought. 'He was just leaving,' Sasuke said.
Naruto opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, but then stormed out with a livid scowl.
Sasuke suppressed a sigh and noticed Suigetsu watching him. 'Don't ask,' he said again.
'I wasn't going to.' Suigetsu replied. He held up Sasuke's ripped clothing – 'But can I ask whether I call your tailor?' he asked mildly.
Sasuke gave him a look. 'Please.'
xXx
Naruto did not hit the window as he left Sasuke's room. He did not hit the wall outside on the royal balcony. He did not hit a thing between the royal wing and the room above the female servants' quarters that the perverted hermit had found for them.
He dropped down off the slanted roof and swung into the attic that was loosely divided into three. One section was as messy as all hell, with ramen cups making a small, damp wall. Naruto settled down in this one.
The next section smelt inexplicably like wet dog, and featured a curled up sleeping figure in the middle of an oval bed made out of blankets.
The last section was the most colourful. Posters covered every wall and surface – the entire slant of the roof was layered with picture after figure of indecently-clad women in compromising positions. An old, white-haired man sucked on his pipe beneath all of this. 'Heya,' this man boomed with a grin. He waved his pipe around to indicate the whole attic, 'We're gonna have new digs, soon. Got hold of that contact of mine.'
'Is that why you have a black eye? Was the contact a woman?'
With another lazy wave of his hand, Jiraiya said, winking, 'Of course it was a woman, and you know I like them feisty. What's up with you? Why're you scowling? I would've thought your lover-boy had cheered you up now. As you stayed the night.'
Naruto sighed and dropped onto his own bed. 'He did. Then he kicked me out.'
'Ah. Problematic.'
'He acted like no one could know I was there or ever had been there. The bastard! Shit!' he swore, hitting the floor causes a ramen cup landslide. Weak, old water sloshed.
'. . . Any thoughts as to why he did that?' Jiraiya questioned, peering at his student through the swirling smoke.
'. . . He's a teme. Bastard. That's why. Damn it.'
'Um . . . Let's try and piece this together. We know the moody little prince is in a precarious position?'
Naruto nodded, paused then asked with a scrunched up frown, 'What does precarious mean?'
'Dangerous.'
Naruto nodded again, understanding shining in his wide blue eyes
'Some of his supporters in the country have been attacked, and one supporter in the palace has been murdered. Do you agree that this is probably to get at Sasuke?'
Naruto nodded again, wondering where this useless path of questions was going. 'But he kicked me out.'
'Boy, his family's dead, his supporters are in danger, can you think what kind of danger a lover of his would be in?'
'A . . . lot?'
'Yes.' Jiraiya said very patiently. 'Now why do you think Sasuke kicked you out before the palace woke up properly?'
'. . .'
'Could it be to . . .'
Naruto sat upright, a dim light dawning in his eyes. 'He's protecting me?'
Jiraiya rolled his eyes. 'This could be a problem for y-'
'No, no,' Naruto interrupted with the enormous grin which had replaced his scowl of death. 'He was protecting me?' His grin widened. 'So that's it? Is that really all?' he got up. 'I can look after myself.'
'Gotta talk to you before you rush off again. You and Kiba are starting . . . something new tomorrow.'
'No. Absolutely not. I've got my hands full with this bloody Uchiha. My bloody Uchiha.'
'He'll be there too, Naruto. Believe me, it'll give you lots of time for wooing.'
'Is wooing the same as knocking sense into someone?'
Jiraiya frowned, lowering his pipe. 'Um . . . sometimes.'
'All right, I'll go.'
xXx
Sasuke sat in the Red Room waiting for Juugo and Karin to arrive for a meeting of Hebi. The prince's posture was perfect, his every expression impassive, his hands still on his lap. Then why was Suigetsu grinning at him like a smug idiot.
'What?' Sasuke snapped.
'You're more relaxed today,' was the arch response. 'I think I know why.'
Slowly and ominously, Sasuke said, 'No one can know about this, Suigetsu.'
'Especially not Karin . . . or Princess Haruno.'
Sasuke nodded vigorously – he didn't want to be nailed to a stake.
'Anyway,' his bodyguard carried on, 'will you start again at the school?'
'I have to, Suigetsu. The law is very strict about that.' All magic-users had to be taught until the age of seventeen at least. 'Members of the Royal family are not exempt, and there are too many people who want to keep an eye on me for them to decide to let me graduate.'
'But you've already fulfilled the requirements for graduation. How can they keep you there?'
'The only way a student can leave early, is if every instructor is satisfied they're not a danger to themselves or anyone else. Not every instructor supports me, or even likes me for that matter.' The last was said with a wry grin. 'That means I have to go tomorrow.'
xXx
Yay for honey whiskey! Yay for ginger liqueur! Yay for frangelico! Yar for the restorative powers of all the good things in life!
Anyway, another chapter! And less than a six month gap between hits one and the last one!
Little pirate suggests that we take six months between posts because of big pirate's typing dyslexia. Hmph. Hrmph!
Little pirate snorts and sniggers in background.