Chapter 25: Council of . . .

The body was found in the forest below the palace. Three hours into the search, a young guard noticed an age-marked hand sticking out from behind a tree. What he saw when he approached was an old man propped up against the trunk. White hair and beard, wrinkled skin, the Imperial crest on his chest - Sarutobi Hiruzen, as the palace physician would say later that afternoon, had been poisoned.

xXx

The wall of noodle boxes swayed because of the force with which Naruto slammed the door behind him. Someone was dead. Sasuke wasn't talking to him. This murderous Itachi idiot had ruined his plans for the day . . . and the night . . . and the next morning, for that matter.

Kiba sat in the far corner of his section of the room. The boy was a silent, brooding presence, wrapped up in what Naruto thought of as his doggy blanket. The sheer force of gloom which emanated from the boy brought Naruto out of his own thoughts. He sat down across from Kiba, making sure he was not leaning against the noodle wall.

'I'm sorry,' the blond began with uncharacteristic concern, 'did you know the man?'

Kiba frowned. 'What man?'

'The one who died.'

Kiba sighed. He was quiet for a moment, then said pitifully, 'No.'

'Jeez, what's up? Is Kurenai's pirate ship in trouble? Is her baby okay? Is Hinata all right? Are they calling you back again? Or even worse – have they found you?' Naruto realised that if Kurenai had actually located Kiba, he would not still be here above the female servants' dormitory.(1)

Kiba gave another heavy sigh. 'If only it were that easy.'

'Bloody hell. What has happened?'

'I've been . . .,' he retreated into his blanket and finished in a muffled voice, '. . . rejected.'

Naruto blinked. 'Um . . . who?'

His dejected murmur was barely audible. 'A guy at the school.' Another sigh. 'Shino.'

Naruto blinked again. 'The glasses guy?'

Kiba merely brought the blanket over his head. Two little spikes of brown hair were the only visible parts of him now.

'Um . . . Kiba, this might not be the best time to bring it up, but haven't you been rejected before? Didn't Hinata dump you? Like millions of times?'

Naruto couldn't make out the grumbled response, so he asked, 'What?'

''s different. Already slept with her by that stage.'

'Ah . . . So this is a knotty one.' Naruto looked at the ceiling, bit his lip and asked patiently, 'So how long have you liked him?'

Kiba resurfaced. 'A day. A whole day. Noticed him yesterday.'

Naruto thought back to what he remembered of Shino. 'What do you see in the guy? . . . With those glasses and that jacket, what can you see in the guy?' Did Kiba fancy his forehead? That was the only visible part.

Kiba shot a glare in Naruto's direction. 'Don't mock my pain.'

The blond raised his eyebrows and bit back his next comment. 'Come on! Is that any way to approach it? Just persist. That always worked for me. And when it's not working, persist some more!'

'That's what persist means, Naruto.'

'. . . I know. But you can still do more of it! More! Let's go find some ramen!'

xXx

West window, barred. East window, barred. South window, bricked in, and reinforced by the sound of it. The balcony access now had a wall of large metal spikes. The vent into the bathroom was a tunnel of self-replenishing explosives. The passageway entrance was protected by Sasuke's three insane body guards who wouldn't even acknowledge that Naruto was there, right in front of them, shouting.

For the first time in weeks, Naruto literally could not get into Sasuke's room. He sat on the roof looking at those really, really, really sharp spikes, covered in magic. He was not happy. It had been the same last night too, ever since Sasuke's brother had appeared in the palace and disappeared just as quickly. Jiraiya said that there had been reports of Itachi already being three or four towns away to the north, so why was Sasuke still trying to protect Naruto in this stupid way.

He hit the tiles on the roof, hoping the sexy bastard underneath would hear it. It wasn't likely, so he hit them again, much harder. He would have what Kurenai had always called 'words' with Sasuke at the training session before class tomorrow.

xXx

When Naruto reached the door to the training hall, a palace guard said, 'He will meet you outside on the terrace.' So the blond walked across the large empty room to the open doors on the far side. His footsteps echoed until he stepped out onto grass and his eyes had to adjust to the brightness of the day.

The terrace was manicured and green. Sasuke was not there. What lay in his place was a guy with black spiky hair in a ponytail. Some similarities, but definitely not the same.

'You're not Sasuke.'

The guy lifted his head with a sceptical frown, 'So I've been told.'

Naruto frowned, tilted his head to the side. A memory was stirring, but hadn't quite surfaced yet. 'So where's Sasuke?'

The guy shrugged. 'Busy, apparently. So I'm in charge of your training now.' He looked back up at the sky. 'Troublesome. '

The memory bobbed up to the surface. The blond's eyes brightened. 'Weren't you were the guy who looked at clouds the whole time on Asuma's pirate ship?'

Shikamaru put his hands behind his head like a pillow. 'Yeah. You were taught by Jiraiya, right?'

'Yup.'

'So I don't have to teach you anything, right?'

'Yup,' said Naruto as he lay down near Shikamaru and looked up at the same clouds.

Moments later, a chubby boy wearing a white overall with stains on it came onto the terrace with a tray. He walked up to Shikamaru and said, 'Hey,' before sitting down. He placed the tray on the grass and asked, 'Ramen?'

Naruto's ears pricked up – he examined the guy more closely and recognised him as the sous-chef of the palace, someone who'd always given him an endless supply of noodles and thus a fast friend. 'Hey, Chouji!'

'Morning, Naruto,' Chouji replied before he lay down in the other side of Shikamaru, also looking up at the clouds. It was a peaceful morning, they spoke occasionally, often with long minutes between replies, and eventually Chouji handed out wide funnels to each of them and explained how to eat ramen while lying down.

Once Naruto had got the hang of it – after a few bowls' worth of practising – he exclaimed, 'You're a genius, Chouji!'

Minutes later, Chouji muttered, 'Hear that, Shikamaru? I'm a genius.'

Once a few large, fluffy clouds had passed, Shikamaru rolled his head to face him, saying lazily, 'That's what I've always been telling you.'

They lay there listening to the odd noodly slurp. Then Chouji said, 'Yeah.'

Naruto was pissed off that Sasuke hadn't shown up, but he'd knew he'd see him in class soon, so he enjoyed the sky for a little while.

xXx

Sasuke was Not In Class. What was the teme doing? Maybe he was just going to be late. It wouldn't be unlike him to spend three hours getting ready.

Sasuke still hadn't shown up by lunch time. Kiba was not interested in speculating as to where he could be. As they walked to the dining hall, Naruto gave his friend a sidelong look. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was different about him. Then it hit him – for the first time since Naruto had known him, Kiba might have brushed his hair. Or at least attempted to.

Naruto tried to broach the subject once more, 'So, have you spent much time with Shino?'

'No, we've barely spoken.'

The blond frowned. 'Sorry, but I've gotta ask - what do you see in that guy?'

'Isn't he gorgeous?'

'Like I said, you can't see anything of him.'

'No, no, he's gorgeous.'

'Maybe the whole 'unattainable' idea is doing things to your head, Kiba.'

Naruto looked behind him. Shino did have a nice forehead, but how much was that to go on, really?

'Stop staring,' Kiba hissed, brushing his hair down.

Naruto snorted out a laugh and ruffled Kiba's hair. 'It looks better like you usually have it.'

Kiba looked at him uncertainly. 'What? Really? Okay.'

When they entered the hall, Naruto took Kiba by the shoulders, aimed him at Shino, who was across the room, pushed him and said, 'Fetch!'

xXx

'Hey,' was Kiba's opening line. In his defence, it usually worked – that and a grin. Neither had any effect. Shino speared a carrot, lifted his fork and looked to the side, saying nothing.

'How're you today?' Kiba continued.

'. . . I'm fine.' He chewed his carrot. Kiba watched. The guy managed to get things into his mouth while wearing a jacket which went up to his nose. How? How? Kiba couldn't stand the suspense. He tried to start up several conversations – each ended with a word or even just a syllable. The last one was cut short by a quiet grunt on Shino's part.

Kiba tried once again, 'So . . . what're you doing later?'

'Why?'

'I want to find out if you smile under that coat.' Then Kiba whipped the best grin out of his arsenal of disarming, pant-dropping grins.

'How many people have you slept with?' was the response.

The grin froze, then vanished. The boy frowned into the middle distance.

'It's a simple question,' Shino said dryly. 'How many people have you slept with?'

'Umm, just wait a moment – I'm counting.' The boy frowned at his hands, using them to count. Shino watched with what was possibly a bemused expression. The counting continued. Shino went off at a leisurely pace to get coffee. He came back to find Kiba still counting with a pained frown.

Finally the brown-haired boy burst out. 'I don't know . . . What kind of a question is that?'

Shino took a sip of coffee and lifted an eyebrow. 'Evidently quite an interesting one.'

xXx

Naruto downed his third cup of ramen, eating his pain as he eavesdropped on conversation after conversation. Every girl seemed to have her own opinion regarding where Sasuke could be. Although Naruto liked the idea of finding him in the royal baths, he knew that was probably not the best theory running through the dining hall. Also, the bodyguards apparently knocked out anyone within a twenty metre radius of any running water. Weird.

Bored and frustrated, he went to the nearest courtyard for some air, only to hear hushed conversation behind a pillar. One voice was unmistakably Shikamaru's lazy drawl, the other was a girl's. Hiding in the bushes as close as he could get, Naruto recognized her as one of Sakura's handmaidens.

'. . . heads of houses have been called together for a council of generals,' Shikamaru told her.

'Who called them?' she asked immediately. 'Itachi or Sasuke?'

'Sasuke.'

'Then he's lifted arms against his brother. It's really going to happen. We're heading for a civil war.'

xXx

(1)

and Jiraiya's array of corked-up peepholes :P

xXx

Wooot! Another one – and this time it was only a matter of weeks!

(we have a confession, though, we finished this two hours – TWO HOURS – after we posted the last one) go us!