So, thank you for the feedback; we're making progress! Maybe a bribe would work instead of asking nicely?
I do believe in getting something for your effort, though. So, I've been toying with the thought of doing something special if/when I reach 70 reviews. I have a couple of ideas. When I decide which I'm going to do, I'll let you know.
There will, of course, be rules.
1. Reviews will have to be relevant to this story.
2. Reviews will have to be at least two sentences long. My high school English teacher strongly believed that sentences contained at least four words. I generally tend to agree.
3. If one person leaves 60 reviews, I will only count them once.
Hm...that's it for now I think. Thanks and I hope you enjoy this chapter! I stuggled with the wording a bit. I get a bit wordy sometimes...
Chapter Four: Once upon a time, there was a little prince...
Naruto stood frozen, staring at the place where Sakura had been. He tried to form a train of rational thought, but his brain had short circuited. He felt the old terror that had receded in the past week rising up again.
"There you are! I was wondering where you wondered off to. Are you ready to go outside?"
She had called him a chew toy. It was something he had been concerned about since he had learned what Sasuke was. He knew that you could survive being bitten, but it just sounded painful. And he wasn't big on the entire pain thing.
"Naruto? Are you ok? There's someone I wanted you to meet."
And while it was true that he didn't have much to live for, he wasn't quite ready to die yet. And Sakura had given him a deadline.
"Naruto? Naruto? Kakashi, something's wrong."
They had told him to ignore Sakura. But how could he ignore such an ominous prediction? She could be right. After all, he had no idea why he had been brought here. Had no idea how long he'd be kept here. Had no idea what would happen to him in the end.
"Should I go and get Sasuke?"
The sound of that name prompted him into action. He took off running, passing by Iruka and a silver haired man. He had been told where Sasuke had been hiding. He just hoped that there was only one study.
He skidded around a corner, catching a glimpse of Iruka and the unknown man keeping pace behind him. At the end of this hallway was the study. He threw open the doors before he could allow his brain to talk himself out of it.
Sasuke was sitting behind the desk. He looked up as Naruto entered, raising an eyebrow in silent question. When his only answer was Naruto's panting breaths, he opened his mouth to voice his question. He was interrupted by Naruto picking up the nearest object (a lamp, as it turned out, which sparked as the cord was pulled from the wall) and chucking it at Sasuke's head.
"Naruto!" Iruka's startled cry came from behind him. But Sasuke had already caught the lamp inches from his face and was holding up a hand to stop Iruka.
"Naruto. How pleasant it is to see you again. May I help you with something?"
Naruto's snarl would have made any vampire proud. "Why am I here?"
Sasuke didn't immediately answer. Naruto's panic didn't allow him the patience to wait much longer than that. "I want to go home."
"You are home." Sasuke did answer immediately that time.
"No I'm not!" Naruto picked up a book and threw it at Sasuke. Again, and much to Naruto's aggravation, Sasuke caught the projectile and set it gently on the desk. "I want to go home to my crappy apartment and my crappy job and my crappy life. And I want to go away from you!"
Sasuke watched him fume for a moment before he walked around the desk and leaned back on it, crossing his arms across his chest. "We discussed home, remember? Home is where the heart is. Then have you left your heart back in your crappy life?"
Naruto struggled to find an answer, but he had the feeling that it was rhetorical anyway. Sasuke continued to talk without waiting for a reply. "You have no friends, no family. I have taken you away from no one. I have taken you away from nothing."
"That's not the point!"
"Is it not?"
"No! You kidnapped me!" Naruto felt that Sasuke was missing this point completely.
"Hm." Sasuke considered this for a moment. "Perhaps." Naruto stuttered out a squeaked shout. "But have I not repaid you for that? I have given you everything that your old life lacked. I have given you a home, with friends and family, people who would die for you and give you anything. You have not wanted for anything since you have been here. The only limitations on your lifestyle have been imposed upon you by yourself."
Naruto clenched his hands. "Anything I want?" Sasuke nodded once. "Well, I want to go home."
Sasuke sighed deeply, as if dealing with a petulant child. There was silence for a moment where Naruto thought that maybe Sasuke would actually let him go. That, or he was seriously thinking about just killing him and getting it over with. Sasuke looked over Naruto's shoulder at the wall. "Was I mistaken?"
"Yes," Naruto replied immediately. Sasuke leveled a glare at him.
"Did I take you away from someone?" Naruto snapped his mouth close. "If I have, tell me. I will bring them to you."
Naruto scoffed. "I wouldn't subject my worse enemy to you."
Sasuke kept his gaze on Naruto. Slowly, a crooked grin stretched across his face. "I was not mistaken, was I?" Naruto shrieked in frustration. "Anything you want is yours. But this is your home now."
The stress finally erupted. "You monster! I hate you!" He picked up another object (the matching lamp to the one he already had thrown) and threw it at Sasuke's head. Sasuke didn't catch it that time. The sickening crash of the lamp shattering against Sasuke's head echoed in Naruto's ears as he ran out of the study and down the hallway.
Naruto didn't know where he was going. He was running blindly, trying to put as much distance between Sasuke and himself. He had to get out of here. He had found a couple of doors to the outside, but they were all locked. He could feel the hysteria rising in his chest.
Finally, he ran past the kitchen. He back tracked and skidded into the kitchen. On one wall was a large, bay window. He picked up one of the kitchen chairs and threw it at the window. It bounced off without even causing a crack. Even the windows were reinforced! He grabbed one of barstools from the counter and swung it hard at the window. It bounced back, but the ricochet added to his momentum. He continued to swing at the window until there was a slight crack.
And then there was a hand wrapping gently around his wrist.
"Naruto."
He recognized Iruka's voice. "No!"
A sigh. "Naruto."
"No!"
"No what?"
He tried to pull his hand out of Iruka's grasp, but Iruka just pulled him closer into a tight hug. "Perhaps we should take this outside. Some fresh air would do him good." Iruka nodded against his head and started to lead him away.
He didn't know how he got there, but he was soon outside. Exhausted, he sank down to the soft grass and struggled to control his crying. A bottle of water was pushed in front of his face. He accepted it and looked at who had given it to him. It was someone he hadn't seen before. The most starling features were the mismatched eyes- one of which was a very familiar shade of red.
Iruka laid his hand on Naruto's shoulder to get his attention. "Naruto, this is my sire, Kakashi. He won't hurt you."
Naruto remembered what Kiba had said. This man was Sasuke's fledgling. He had been hoping that he could convince Iruka to take him home, but he had a sinking feeling that this man, Kakashi, wouldn't let him leave. But, maybe he could try.
"I hate him," Naruto started. Kakashi nodded.
"Most people do when they first meet him. I think if you got to know him a bit more, you wouldn't hate him as much."
"Doubt that," Naruto mumbled. He broke the seal on his water and took a sip.
Kakashi hummed thoughtfully before he crouched down to Naruto's level. "Well, while you calm yourself down, let me tell you a story."
Naruto rolled his eyes. He was about to tell Kakashi to screw off, but Iruka was there sitting next to him and smiling. And damn it, he couldn't disappoint Iruka.
"Once upon a time…"
"Really?" Was this guy for real?
"Isn't that how all stories start?" Naruto didn't reply, and Kakashi took that as permission to continue. "Once upon a time, I was hired by an aristocratic family to be a tutor and companion to their youngest son. That was the first time I met Uchiha Sasuke. He was five when I first met him."
Naruto considered that. Sasuke was a child once. Sasuke was human once. It made since, he supposed, but it was something he hadn't thought about.
"Sasuke was a very happy child. Enthusiastic, rambunctious. Usually ended up falling out of a tree at least once a week. At the same time, he could be so serious. He had a lot of expectations to live up to, so he knew how to work hard. It was my job to teach him, but I found, more often than not, that Sasuke would teach himself. I simply provided the materials and checked his work.
"The Uchiha clan was a large, very close, family. And the family's pride and joy was Sasuke's older brother, Itachi. Well, one day, Itachi was sent to make his honor in a series of battles. He was gone for some years. Sasuke was devastated. He admired and adored his older brother. He counted down the days that Itachi was gone.
"When Itachi returned, he had been turned. The first thing he did was slaughter his family."
Naruto caught his breath. "Everyone?"
Kakashi nodded. "Everyone. Every man, woman, and child. Except Sasuke. Sasuke witnessed the massacre. He tried to stop Itachi, but he was so young. And there was nothing he could have done against a fully grown vampire."
Naruto was torn. He still hated the man, but he mourned for the child. "What about you?"
"I wasn't there. I had gone home to bury my father. If I had been there, I would have been killed."
"What happened to Sasuke?" Naruto knew what the end result was, but he was caught up in the story.
"Once his family was dead, Itachi made it very clear that as soon as Sasuke was old enough to survive the change, he would be turned. He was immediately locked away in his room. That's how I found him when I returned. Itachi, fortunately for me, agreed to keep me on as Sasuke's tutor."
Kakashi sighed and rubbed his head. "Sasuke was completely changed. It just seemed like he had shut down. He showed no emotion, even anger. He became completely apathetic about everything, and threw himself into his studies.
"When he was twelve, Itachi's sire came to live with us." Kakashi gave a dry chuckle. "If you think that Sasuke's scary, you should have seen this guy. Orochimaru was his name. Class A freak. Even Itachi was wary of him and kept him away from Sasuke as much as he could. That was our lives, for sixteen years. During the days, we were locked up and the evenings were spent avoiding Itachi and Orochimaru. Occasionally, we had to move. Mostly it was Itachi and Orochimaru taking over other vampires' territories, attempting to expand their territory. When Sasuke was twenty-eight, Itachi turned him. Let me assure you, it was most definitely against his will. He thought as you did, that vampires were monsters. He fought against Itachi, pleaded with him to not change him. But it was all for naught."
Naruto knew that Sasuke was changed, but to know how made it different. It was like when he went to the movies and saw the movie Titanic. He knew how it would end, but he still cried when the boat sank.
"When I found out that Itachi had taken Sasuke to be turned, I laid low. Sasuke and I had discussed what would happen to me to a great extent. Once Sasuke was turned, there would be no point in keeping me around. More than likely, I would be killed. We had decided that when Sasuke was turned, he would turn me in order to try and save me.
"Once a vampire is turned, they are incredibly vulnerable and have to be kept in a dark isolation. Usually, the sire stays with their fledgling to forge their bond, but Itachi only went to Sasuke when he needed to be fed. Sasuke was kept underground by himself for nearly a year. I hid. When Sasuke was finally able to leave his cell, the first thing he did was try to turn me. But, he was too young and didn't have the strength to complete the transformation. I was dying and Sasuke had to act fast. He knew if he asked Itachi, he wouldn't help him. So he went to Orochimaru. Orochimaru agreed to help, but in exchange, he wanted Sasuke's body. Sasuke agreed, and Orochimaru completed my transformation. Sasuke stayed with me as much as he could."
Naruto wrinkled his nose. "I bet Itachi wasn't happy about that."
Kakashi grinned. "No, he wasn't. Sasuke told me about it. When Itachi learned of Orochimaru and Sasuke's deal, he killed Orochimaru. It's incredibly difficult to kill one's sire. The bond forged between sire and fledgling causes emotions and feelings to travel between the two. Granted, Itachi's bond was probably not that strong with Orochimaru, but he was a great deal younger as well. He had to have been incredibly pissed."
Naruto thought about what he had been told. "When did Atatsuki come in?"
Kakashi laughed. "Met them, have we?"
Naruto grinned. "Only through a pain of glass."
"Better had it been through a brick wall. Without Orochimaru, the territory that he and Itachi had formed started to fall apart. Itachi had wanted Sasuke to stand with him, but Sasuke had no desire to. So Itachi started finding potential fledglings. He would find the most despicable, murderous individuals he could and turn them. Those fledglings would, in turn, turn the most despicable individuals they could find. And thus, the Uchiha coven was formed. They fed uncontrolled, wiping out entire villages.
"Sasuke and I both knew that something had to be done. We waged war against Itachi and his fledglings."
"Sasuke killed Itachi?" Naruto hoped so. He had a feeling that he didn't want this guy still on this planet. To his dismay, Kakashi shook his head.
"Itachi was older. But, amazingly, they were about evenly matched. So, Sasuke did the next best thing. He sealed him away."
"How?"
Kakashi shook his head again. "I have no idea. He used an old magic he had come across in his vampire studies. He hid the sealed Itachi away somewhere that only he knows where. When he came back, this was his coven. Any of Itachi's fledglings that rebelled against Sasuke, we killed. We felt we could not risk leaving such dangerous individual to their own devices. Eventually, the coven agreed to follow Sasuke's rules.
Iruka decided to finally put his own input in. "And you know what happened from there. Sasuke's coven grew from the "strays" he picked up."
Kakashi nodded. "He has made it his mission to find a way that humans and vampires can have a symbiotic relationship. He spends so much time speaking with other covens and making treaties in his "no-kill" policy. He has been mildly successful, but he still has a lot of ground yet to cover."
The thought entered his head before he could stop it. And he never did have a filter in his brain. "I've seen him kill."
Kakashi winced. "Yes, I heard all about that. Sasuke really beat himself up about that. And I understand that it upset you." Naruto nodded. "But, let me ask you a question. If it had been a police officer who had interfered in your would be execution, and the police officer had had to shoot and kill your attacker, would you hate that police officer as much as you hate Sasuke? Or would you have felt grateful for him having saved your life."
Naruto knew the answer. It seemed like Kakashi knew the answer as well. "You're biased against Sasuke for what he is. He can't help that he is a vampire any more than you can help that you're human."
Naruto sighed. He knew that Kakashi was right, but he still had one more card to play. "He still kidnapped me."
"He did so in your best interest. Sasuke has always been "the ends justify the means" kind of guy. If he thinks that something needs to be done, he will do anything to accomplish it. He saw that you were in danger and he saved you, regardless of the how. Was there another, better way? Probably. He believed that he could provide a better life for you. So he made sure that you got here."
"He didn't have to herd me here. I was so scared."
Iruka patted his shoulder. "I'm sure you were," Kakashi said. "But you were already hysterical. Can you imagine if he had cornered you or grabbed you? You probably wouldn't have come willingly, regardless. I know that his methods might be a bit abrupt, but he was doing what he thought was best."
They sat in silence for quite some time. Kakashi and Iruka allowed Naruto to absorb all the data that had been thrown at him. Naruto played with his water bottle. He was having trouble integrating the Sasuke that he had encountered with what he had heard about him. There was one last thing he had to know, before he could decide what he wanted to do.
"Why me?"
Kakashi and Iruka exchanged looks over Naruto's head.
"Twenty-six years ago, Sasuke was out hunting one evening when he came across something strange. There was a teenage girl throwing away something in a dumpster. She was skittish. So Sasuke investigated. It was a baby. You."
The dizziness came on sudden and unexpected, leaving him lightheaded. His vision started tunneling, but then there was a cool hand against his forehead.
"Naruto, take a sip of your water." Naruto followed Iruka's suggestion, and almost immediately, his vision started clearing. The dizziness was still there, but he didn't feel like he was going to faint. Kakashi let him regain his bearings before he continued.
"Sasuke retrieved you from that dumpster. You were born prematurely, probably because your mother was malnourished. Sasuke said you were so close to dying, weak and tiny. He knew you needed help. So, he took you to the only orphanage with access to a twenty-four hour hospital. He stayed with you the entire night and came back every night after that to check on your progress. He wouldn't tell me why he saved you, but I think he was trying to save the child he was."
Iruka was rubbing his back, but Naruto couldn't really feel it. "How often did he come back?"
Kakashi sighed. "Often. He tried to keep his distance, but every time that you were sent back, he would sit with you as you cried yourself to sleep. Any time that you would hide from the house mother and retreat into your daydreams, he would hold you until you came back. He watched you grow up. And then, poor Sasuke, you became a man. He knew he couldn't trust himself around you anymore. If he allowed himself to see you, he wouldn't be able to prevent himself from stealing you away. Then enter Karin."
"And he sent her to watch me," Naruto concluded.
Kakashi nodded. "Yes. With orders that she was not to tell Sasuke anything about you unless there was something wrong. Sasuke worked so hard to remove himself from your life, and even harder to remove you from his. It was mildly successful. But a couple months back, Karin came to Sasuke and told him that you were lonely and asked for permission to be your friend. It was all that was needed to cause his instincts to start to kick in high gear. Already he was wondering if he should go and introduce himself to you, if he should interfere in your life once more. He was still struggling with himself when Karin brought you to the club."
"I thought he hated me, for some reason. He was glaring at me." Naruto remembered those eyes locking him into place through a crowded room.
"He wasn't angry at you. And he never could hate you. Just the opposite. He adores you. He was angry that Karin had brought you to a club that was known vampire hunting grounds. But it was all the motivation he needed. He had decided that the next evening, he would start to reintegrate himself into your life." Kakashi leveled a very serious look at Naruto. "For what it is worth, he meant to go slow. Take his time for you to get to know him, and for him to reacquaint himself with you. Then that idiot mugger ruined it. How was Sasuke supposed to let his most precious person go after a near death experience? When he was afraid that you would never allow him close again? He couldn't let you go twice."
Naruto simply sat there. He didn't know what he should think. The person just moments ago he called a monster now seemed vulnerable. He wanted to take Sasuke away, tell him that everything would be alright. He winced at what he had yelled at the man upstairs in the study. He remembered Sasuke's face, the pained expression, right before he allowed the lamp to smack into him. This man that had saved him twice, and had tried to give him the family he had always imagined. In his mind, he could still feel the arms wrapping around him in the daydreams of his youth. No, Sasuke had been the family he had imagined. He wanted to start over with Sasuke. How it would have been had he not been mugged that night. But he didn't know where to start.
Both Kakashi and Iruka stood at the same time. Iruka smiled at him. "Well, it's been a long night, Naruto. Let's get you back to your room."
Naruto stood and followed them sedately, lost in his thoughts. At his bedroom door, he wished them both a good morning and opened his door. Kakashi stopped him before he could enter.
"Naruto, you should know that nothing is expected of you. If you don't think that you could see yourself with Sasuke, no one will force you. Sasuke least of all. But, I think you should give him a chance. He would dote on you, give you anything and everything you wanted. And I think that you would do him some good as well." With that, Kakashi vanished down the hallway.
Naruto had laid awake in his bed until he was sure that the sun was firmly in the sky. His growling stomach prompted him up and into the kitchen. He didn't feel much like exploring, so after his meal, he headed directly back up to his room. Instead of entering, though, he leaned his shoulder against his door and breathed deeply. He didn't know what he should do! Should he go and apologize to Sasuke tomorrow? Probably. But he didn't even know where to begin. And, to add to his uncertainty, somewhere in his gut he was still terrified of the man.
Naruto exhaled once more and pushed off the door before looking down the hallway in the opposite direction he went to get to the kitchen. It was a dead-end with a large mirror that had more than once scared him when he saw his reflection. Because of that, he had often avoided looking down to that end of the hallway, but now he noticed something. There was a door. Naruto bit his lip and walked slowly to the door. He cracked it open and noticed the tell-tale signs of another bedroom. He was about to close the door and mark it off on his map, but his spine froze him in place. It was an eerily familiar feeling that Nartuo recognized. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, plunging him immediately into darkness. He leaned against the door and closed his eyes in the hope of his eyes adjusting to the dark and his breaths to return to normal. Five minutes later, his eyes had adjusted, but he still felt on the verge of hyperventilating.
He looked around the room in an attempt to delay confirming who was sleeping in the bed. It was much smaller than his. It was larger than his apartment, though that wasn't saying much, but still very modest. Naruto finally held in his breath and walked across the room (14.3 seconds) to the bed. It was a shaky hand that pulled the curtain back just enough to reveal Sasuke's face.
He truly was handsome. Naruto had thought that he would look peaceful in his sleep, but Sasuke had deep creases between his eyebrows. He looked tortured. 'He is tortured. And I threw it in his face.' Naruto didn't realize he was reaching forward to smooth Sasuke's brow until his hand was halfway there. He froze with his hand hovering over Sasuke. In that moment, he knew that he would have to try to make things right with Sasuke. He just hoped that he didn't screw up.
Naruto wondered if he should knock. Doubtless, Sasuke already knew he was standing like an idiot outside his study. But Sasuke might at least appreciate the gesture. But what if Sasuke said he couldn't come in?
It was that thought that prompted Naruto to crack the door open and peek into the room. He flinched when he saw that Sasuke was sitting at his desk, chin resting on folded hands, watching Naruto fidget in the doorway. Naruto huffed at the raised eyebrow and slid inside. He shut the door behind him to prevent himself from running away. He knew what he wanted to say, but he didn't think that bringing himself to say it would be so difficult.
To give him time to think of how he wanted to word it, he turned to the nearest bookshelf and started browsing the books. There was silence behind him for a several agonizing seconds before he heard the scratching of a pen coming from the desk. He looked briefly over his shoulder to see that Sasuke had returned to work. Naruto returned to browsing though the books, working his way around the room, closer to Sasuke. Every once in a while he would take a book off the shelf and thumb through it. Occasionally, he would come across a book written in a language that he didn't recognize. His curiosity wanted to ask what languages they were, but he knew that that would have to wait.
He was finally standing against the wall, but directly to Sasuke's side. He was still about three meters away from Sasuke, but this was a success to Naruto. It was the closest he had ever gotten without wanting to run away.
"May I assist you in some way?" Sasuke's voice startled Naruto into dropping the book in his hand. An expression of what Naruto would almost label as guilt flashed across Sasuke's face before he looked away. Naruto picked up the book and stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. As he turned to put the book back on the shelf, he saw a grin twitch itself to life across Sasuke's face. Naruto fought a grin as well, but he schooled his features into a passive look before turning to face Sasuke. Sasuke, to his frustration, had returned to his work like nothing had happened.
Naruto crossed the room to sit in an overstuffed chair directly in front of Sasuke's desk. Sasuke glanced at him before resuming his writing. Naruto fidgeted for several minutes before the silence finally got to him.
"So…" he said to catch Sasuke's attention.
Sasuke looked up at him. He placed his pen down and folded his hands in front of him. "So?"
Naruto scowled at him and Sasuke rested his chin on his hands. "So, I've been told that you aren't all that bad."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Have you?"
Naruto nodded. "Yes. Apparently you're simply misunderstood."
Yes, that was definitely a smirk threatening to cross Sasuke's face. "Am I?"
Naruto nodded again, with upmost seriousness. "I've also been told that you are severally socially inept."
Oh, and that was definitely a scowl. "I assure you that I am not inept at anything. And what else has Kakashi been telling you?"
Naruto grinned. He was having fun. "You are a bit socially stupid. Kakashi didn't have to tell me that." The low growl was surprisingly non-threatening. "So, in light of that, I've decided we should try again." The growl cut off suddenly.
"Try again?" His voice was almost hesitant. Naruto chewed his tongue before voicing the answer.
"Yea. Try to be friends." Sasuke turned his head slightly, looking at Naruto from the corner of his eye.
"Friends?" Kakashi had said that Sasuke wouldn't push him. He supposed now was his chance to test that.
"Yea. Friends. We have to start somewhere, right? And I'm willing to try." He emphasized that last word. He wasn't promising anything more than that.
Sasuke nodded in acceptance before shooting Naruto a weak grin. He turned back to his work.
Naruto let him work for a couple more minutes before the silence started to make him fidget. "What are you working on?"
"I am translating an old Celtic text. I believe that it contains relevant information about vampires."
"Ah." A pause. "You know Celtic?"
Sasuke glanced up at Naruto with a half smirk. "Of course. I was born into an aristocratic family. As such, I had to learn many languages, Celtic being one of them."
It was a weird language to learn, aristocratic or not. Unless… "How old are you?"
Sasuke's smirk widened. "Very." And he turned back to his translation.
Naruto huffed at the answer. Naruto struggled through the silence for a while. It seemed he would have to take baby steps with teaching Sasuke how to be sociable.
"And now a friend would ask their friend how they've been enjoying their time here."
Sasuke looked up at Naruto, almost startled, before he placed his pen down on the desk. "You seemed to be doing fine, until yesterday."
Yesterday was already brought up, but Naruto found he wasn't quite ready to discuss his little break down. "Yea, I forgot. The house is crawling with your spies."
A grin, for Naruto's sake, was his answer. "Will you allow me to know what changed? My spies seem to be lacking in that knowledge."
Naruto fidgeted slightly. "Stress." Sasuke sighed.
"Let us pretend that you know I am not stupid. Someone said something to you. Who?"
Naruto realized that Sasuke was coaxing him. He wasn't forcing all of the information from him all at once. He wondered just how much Sasuke actually knew. He also wondered if he should tell him that it was Sakura. No, he decided. He'd seen the result of Sasuke's temper. He remembered Kiba joking about Sasuke ripping his head off if he so much as touched Naruto. He decided he didn't want to test if that was an exaggeration or not.
"No one." Sasuke scowled.
"All right. Then let us try this. What did Sakura say to you?" Naruto drew in a sharp breath.
"How'd you…I mean…it wasn't…damn." Sasuke grinned.
"As I said, I am not stupid. I also do not believe in coincidences. Sakura returned home last night. And I know that she…is not fond of you. So, I will ask again. What did she say to you?"
"Does it matter? It's over and done with, anyway."
"Yes. It matters."
How was Naruto to tell him? It was uncomfortable. And if what Kakashi said was true, then saying such a thing to Sasuke would offend him. He would be angry.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed to a slit. "You should know that I will find out. If you do not tell me, I will ask Sakura. She will tell me, even if she knows that it will anger me. The difference is that if you tell me, I might not be as angry when I see Sakura again. If she tells me, there will be nothing to prevent me from punishing her."
And that was a threat if Naruto ever heard one. Damn. He was upset at Sakura, but he didn't want anyone getting hurt because of him. "Fine. But it is done with, so you have to promise you won't hurt her."
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. "I promise."
Naruto chewed his lip slightly, before he looked away from Sasuke towards one of the bookshelves. "She called me a chew toy, and told me that you'd kill me within the week." He mumbled the sentence, hoping that Sasuke would miss it. Apparently, he misjudged how sensitive Sasuke's hearing was.
There was a loud snap, and Naruto chanced a look to see what had broken. Sasuke had, at some point, picked up his pen again. It was his pen that had broken under Sasuke's grip. Naruto looked up to Sasuke's face to try and determine what was going through his head, but he had to choke back his gasp of surprise. Sasuke's eyes were back to being bright red.
Sasuke standing suddenly startled Naruto back into action. He stood as well. "Stop!" His voice broke in his panic, but it seemed to work. Sasuke froze.
"This type of behavior will not be tolerated in my coven." Sasuke's voice was a low growl. Naruto shook his head.
"You promised!"
Sasuke stared at Naruto for several seconds. Slowly, his eyes faded back to black, and he sat stiffly back into his chair. Naruto let go of the breath he had been holding and sat as well.
"She will be punished."
"Can't you just forget it ever happened?" It was a lot to ask. But he had to try.
The scowl that crossed Sasuke's face was dark and foreboding. "No."
"But you won't hurt her. You promised." Sasuke picked up a new pen and started tapping it on the desk.
"No. I will not hurt her. But she has injured me as well as you by insinuating that I would," Sasuke paused and looked carefully back at Naruto. "Could, ever hurt you. It is an offence I do not take lightly. She and I will have to discuss her offence."
Well, that was fair. Naruto watched as Sasuke retreated back into his thoughts. The tapping of the pen was constant, a sign of Sasuke's continued agitation.
The creases were back between Sasuke's eyebrows. Naruto's hand twitched, but he refused to reach out to him. "I'm sorry I broke your lamp." The tapping stopped and Sasuke was looking at him again, amusement clearly present on his face. He had wanted to apologize for his emotional break-down, or even for breaking said lamp against Sasuke's face. But he was a man, and one's pride could only take so many hits in one day. But, it seemed to do the trick. Sasuke didn't seem as agitated now.
"Yes. It was one of a pair, you know. And now the one looks rather ridiculous sitting there by itself."
It was Naruto's turn to narrow his eyes. Sasuke was teasing him! "I could always break that one too," he threatened. It wasn't nearly as ominous as Sasuke's threat. Sasuke seemed to not think so as well.
"Hm. No, I think we can save that one for your next temper tantrum."
"Hm. And you're a bastard." Sasuke chuckled. "Well, I think that's as pleasant as we can be to each other today. Bye Bastard." Naruto stood up and turned to leave. He was at the door when he heard Sasuke's voice answer him.
"Good evening, Naruto."
Naruto turned back to Sasuke and offered him a grin, before slipping out of the room. He leaned back against the door for a moment to calm his heart beat. He had hated the man. The feeling had been real. But now...going from one extreme to another is such a short amount of time apparently wasn't good for the heart. Naruto rubbed his chest. Maybe, he and Sasuke could be friends. Maybe more, but Naruto didn't want to think that far ahead yet. 'Perhaps', Naruto thought cautiously, 'perhaps I'm finally home.'