Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

A/N: Chapter 8 out of 27, here you go! Longer than usual one, hope you enjoy it. R/R!

Chapter 8: Secrets

He ran the kiss through his mind over and over, trying to sort out his feelings about it. About Sai. It was a pleasant experience, he had to admit. If Sai came back right now and asked to kiss him again, he wasn't entirely sure he'd say no. On the other hand though, it was Sai. The guy who yelled out a window to Sasuke asking for his penis size, the guy who introduced himself to Naruto by insulting something that may or may not have been a passion of his. It wasn't a passion, but still. Sai liked him as more than a friend, but was it a mutual feeling?

Thankfully when Naruto finished putting some clothes on and left the shower stall, no one was giving him any weird looks. Which was good; that meant no one noticed Sai visiting a what should be a private area and staying there for a longer-than-necessary time. Naruto was especially glad Sasuke had already left the showers and didn't see anything. He noticed the last time Sai was coming onto Naruto and had felt him up, practically. Not that he said anything about it, but it still bothered Naruto.

It was later that day when he decided to call Kiba with the decision to tell him what happened. He'd probably choke at the thought of Sai kissing anyone, much less his best friend. He had been ignoring homework all day and was lounging around in his bed, staring up at the ceiling while waiting for the boy to pick up.

And then finally: "Yo! Dude, so I have my first day of work with Hinata tomorrow, and afterwards we're going to chill at the library to work on that Health project."

"Sasuke and I are meeting up tomorrow to work on it as well. So if you were feeling guilty about making me walk, don't; I'm getting a ride with him. But you probably didn't feel guilty, you muttface."

"Ha ha, you're hilarious. Why do I put up with you again?"

"You love me. Obviously." The conversation was interrupted by a round of frenzied barking on Kiba's end, followed by the brunette yelling at it to shut up and the sound of a door closing.

"Sorry. A bird flew into the window and Akamaru freaked out."

"A bird flew into your...? Whatever, anyway. Do you know what you're going to be doing at the cafe?"

"I'll be a server. You should come in sometime when I'm working. But only after I get the hang of it, you'll only make me more nervous if you come in tomorrow or something."

"Do I have to tip you?"

"Of course."

"No thanks." A round of playful cursing followed.

"So," Naruto started, and he could Kiba could sense a serious topic was about to come up now. "Um. Something pretty weird happened today after Gym. In the showers."

"What happened in the showers?" His tone was suggestive, and Naruto had to laugh. Too bad it wasn't far off from the truth.

"Sai and I kissed."

"He kissed you or... you kissed him?"

"He kissed me, I kissed him back. It was short." There was dead silence except for occassional barking in the background for a moment.

"Ew. Why would you kiss Sai? I mean like I said before, his crush on you is really obvious, but... he's weird."

"He's weird, yeah, and I don't know. The kiss was just... pretty nice, so I kissed him back. And he is good looking..."

"Ew," was all Kiba said again, and Naruto chuckled. They chatted a little more about Sai and Hinata, and once Kiba expressed wonder at the fact that Naruto and Sasuke didn't get into a fight all day, and they hung up.

The next day at school was mostly uneventful. Sasuke kept pushing Naruto to leave early to Sasuke's next class as arranged, though he clearly knew where it was anyway. It also wasn't like he had anything in particular to talk about, most of it was filled with peaceful silence. Naruto didn't mind, so the two left.

Naruto ended up skipping his Math class, partly to avoid Sai, partly because he just didn't like Math. Sasuke had a free period then, so the two lazed about in the library. Naruto was browsing through the bookshelves when he saw one on origami, grabbed some paper from the library's printer, and took them back to the table Sasuke was sitting at.

Sasuke watched in silence as he flipped through the origami book, trying to find one that caught his eye. He settled on making a shuriken and looked up at Sasuke. "What to do one?" He expected the raven wasn't interested at all.

"Hn." To his surprise, Sasuke reached over to slide the book to his side of the table and flipped through the easy origami options quickly. He stopped at one called Verdi's Vase, took pictures of the instructions from his phone, and gave the book back to Naruto.

Naruto went to work on his shuriken, setting aside all but two sheets of paper that the book said he'd need. He hardly noticed Sasuke leave and come back with his paper cut. He messed up a few times and had to restart. Once he was so frustrated he rolled one paper up into a ball and tossed it aimlessly and ended up smacking Sasuke in the shoulder. The other boy retaliated by giving him a kick in the shin.

Sasuke finished way before Naruto did, and of course he only had to try the one time. Perfect flawless bastard. He spent the rest of the time watching Naruto work on his, chin resting on his folded fingers, elbows propped on the table, saying nothing at all.

Eventually Naruto folded the shuriken successfully and held it up, proud of his work. "Good job, dolt," Sasuke teased.

"Don't upset a ninja!" the blond said, dramatically throwing his paper shuriken at the other boy. It poked his nose, making Sasuke snort in amusement and grabbing it. The bell ending second period rang and Sasuke got up and left without another word, leaving the origami book and vase on the table.

"Hey, did you want to keep your vase?" he called after him. He didn't see why he wouldn't, it looked pretty cool. Regardless, he was ignored, so he picked up the vase; his shuriken was taken anyway. One of the librarians could put the book back.

He got through some more of the day until lunch. By then, Kiba was nervous about his first day; both because of Hinata and because it was just his first job. Sai was giving Naruto a curious look as he ate his food, and eventually Naruto got annoyed and had to ask what his problem was.

"Have you been avoiding me?" he asked. "You weren't in Math."

"You skipped a class?" Kiba asked, surprised. Not that he blamed him, Naruto didn't skip often.

"Yeah, it isn't a big deal. I was in the library, just relaxing. And no, I'm not avoiding you. If I was, I wouldn't be sitting here right now, would I?" Sai shrugged, a small smile playing at his lips.

"Why would he be avoiding you?" Sasuke asked. Oh god, why did he suddenly care? Just don't answer. Ignore the question completely, Sai—

"I kissed him. Though I don't know why he'd avoid me, really, he kissed back." Naruto wanted to sink into the floor.

"Hn."

"You and Sai are dating?" Gaara asked, looking as shocked as Gaara could look.

"No!" He didn't miss the wince from the other boy at the denial. "We just kissed, that's all."

"'That's all?'" Sai repeated, not looking unlike a kicked puppy.

"But you'll be dating soon," Shikamaru jumped up, and that didn't sound like a question, causing Naruto to pause for a moment.

"That would be a conversation for me and Sai," Naruto mumbled in the end. "Not you guys, you nosy freaks." He looked around the table, realizing someone was missing then. "Where's Sasuke?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "He discarded his food and left, Almighty Attentive One."

"Aren't you supposed to be stalking him all this week?" Kiba asked, and it was around that time that Naruto noticed the small group of chittering girls trailing out of the cafeteria, and figured he should find Sasuke.

All he had to do was follow the sound of high-pitched shrieking, really. He halfway expected to round a corner to find the raven being mauled with girls crying weird shit like "I got a lock of his hair!" but he ended up finding him in the bathroom, washing his hands.

"You know, I got along just fine with rabid fans without you," he said without looking up.

"Yeah, but I'm sure you had bodyguards, or your brother, or something. There's nothing between you and them at this school."

Sasuke smirked, turning to meet Naruto's eyes. "Are you calling yourself nothing?"

"When it comes to the creatures out there?" He grinned. "May as well be nothing." Sasuke scoffed and said nothing more. The two boys hung out in there for the rest of lunch, leaving when the bell rang and others were out in the hall.

He went through the rest of the day without any incidents. For Gym he was one of the first to get into the showers and got in and out in record time. He just needed more time to figure things out with Sai, and he didn't need the boy surprising him in the shower with more kissing.

After Gym he waited around in the library for Sasuke's Science class with Aoba to get out. Finally he got a text telling Naruto to meet him at his car, and he gladly left the school. Sasuke was in his car already, engine on, and said nothing when Naruto slid into the passenger seat.

"Is Itachi going to be there?" he asked after a while, just trying to fill the silence.

"Sadly. Why?"

He shrugged. "I just thought he was cool when I was over at your house last. He didn't throw crouton at me."

"You hit me with a meatball."

"After you hit me with a crouton. Jerk. Anyway, why do you dislike your brother?"

"I don't, not really. But he's my older brother." He said that like it should answer the question, but Naruto was still confused. He felt a pang of loneliness once more, something which he has felt his whole life. No mother, no father, not even any siblings. Just his group of friends and Jiraiya, who was the closest thing to a father for him.

They pulled into the driveway and stepped out of the car, Naruto still marveling over the car doors opening vertically. He just couldn't get over how awesome that was. As soon as he stepped into the house he was grabbed into a bear hug by a lurking Itachi. Sasuke didn't bat an eye and went to his room.

"What are you doing?!" he managed to gasp out, and he was thankfully let go.

"Just saying hello." The damned Uchiha smirk again. "Glad to see you two are getting along better, though. My little brother briefly mentioned the truce you two made. And paying for fixing up the windows."

Oh god, was he pissed about that? Because Sasuke totally started it. "I'm sorry, it was childish of both of us. I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

Itachi shrugged. "He started it, did he not? He's not usually one for having a temper, but what can you do?" He was eyeing Naruto curiously.

"...what?" he asked.

"You're just interesting. Would you like anything to drink? Eat? We have deli rolls." Well, that was a quick subject change, but Naruto didn't care when deli rolls were mentioned. He took the plate piled high with them and two cans of soda and followed Sasuke to his room.

The raven was sitting cross-legged on his bed with his papers in front of him, backpack on the floor. Naruto took his shoes off and hopped up on the bed, sitting on the side of it, sitting his backpack next to him. He grabbed the Health assignment out, careful not to damage the origami vase at the top, and noted with surprise that the shuriken was now sitting on Sasuke's bedside table.

"You kept that!" he said, and Sasuke followed his eyes to the shuriken.

"Well, yeah. It took you about thirty tries to get it right. That shuriken is probably the biggest achievement in your life." Naruto harrumphed but said nothing else on the matter.

They penciled in each other's names at the top and looked over the list of questions. At least it wasn't too many, but some Naruto weren't looking forward to answering. Jiraiya would have seen that coming.

"Your favorite subject in school," Sasuke demanded. "Mine's English."

Naruto thought for a while. He really didn't have a favorite subject, they were all the same to him. But English he had the most fun in. "English as well, but that's because the teacher's always late and my good friends are in there."

He rolled his eyes a bit. "Okay then... ah... first crush. Never had one."

Naruto stared at him. "You're kidding me, right? You're 18 like me, aren't you? Of course you've had a crush."

He stared right back. "Nope. I had a busy schedule my whole life, and I'm not one to give people much attention. Answer the question, idiot."

The blond sighed. Didn't give people much attention? Could have fooled him. "Sakura. I first noticed her when I was fourteen. I was trying to get a slice of pizza for lunch and they ran out right before me. She gave me her slice, we've been friends since."

"How adorable," Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Shut up, you prick. Next question is, how you met your best friend. Obviously Kiba is my best friend. We met when we were six. I was kind of... I don't know. Very angry, at that age, and I met Kiba and he just grew on me. We made a promise to always be friends and to always have each other's backs." He waited for Sasuke to finish writing that down, ready for his own answer.

"Never really had a best friend either."

"Are you shitting me?" he gaped. "No one? No one comes to mind at all?"

Sasuke shrugged. "One kid, but it was a long time ago, and my family and I were on vacation. That's it, though."

Naruto sighed. And he thought his life had been lonely. For the first time he wonondered what life as a very famous celebrity was like. Probably not very appealing at all.

The raven's eyes grew hard when he scanned the list of questions. "Describe your parents," he said. "Mine loved me and Itachi. When I was seven they were shot and killed. Your turn." Naruto looked up, shocked at the admission, and found that Sasuke was glaring at him, daring at him to say sorry, to show pity, to treat Sasuke like a fragile piece of glass.

He swallowed, and looked back down. Not like that particular question was an enjoyable one for to think about, either. "I can't describe them, only what they looked like. When I was a few months old they decided to abandon me by jumping from a building. I was raised by my godfather, Jiraiya."

The room was dead silent for a while, but then Sasuke gave a lighthearted snort. "That sucks, having to spend any amount of time with Jiraiya outside of school."

Naruto laughed, thankful to have the depressing atmosphere dissipate. "You had to put up with Itachi, I had to put up with Jiraiya."

Sasuke snorted as Naruto looked at the list of questions. "Thankfully only a few left," the blond said. "Next one. What is something you'd consider a secret? I'll go first. When me and Kiba first became friends, he had this other dog, named Bubbles." He noticed the look on Sasuke's face. "He was like 8, shut up. Anyway, he loved that dog.

One day I was outside in the car waiting for Jiraiya to leave a pub. He eventually does, but he brings these twin chicks with them, and he's obviously buzzed over. So he makes me drive home—"

"Oh god...," Sasuke said.

"—and one of the girls is distracting me because she's climbing around the car trying to sit in her sister's lap, and I didn't see Bubbles, and I hit him. I never told Kiba, and sometimes I even dream about it still. Kiba was so devastated."

"That is so fucked up in many ways." Sasuke made a weird sound then, and it took Naruto way too long to figure out that it was a chortle. A chortle. From Sasuke Uchiha. He would remember this moment forever. The raven eventually remembered that he was supposed to be writing the story down, and he started talking while he did so.

"After we lost our parents, we ended up with a guy named Orochimaru. I was seven, Itachi was eleven. He would... do things. He would hurt us, but made sure it would be in places where no one would see. He'd threaten us to keep our silence, and he took..." Sasuke stopped to breathe in deeply, and Naruto was dead silent, feeling horrified. "Advantage of Itachi. And later, of the money I started to make as a child actor. So when Itachi was old enough to make himself my guardian, he did so, and I haven't seen him since. I guess my secret is, he's the only person I would kill. And I mean that."

"That's... I don't know what to say. Can't you do something now? Get him behind bars? He's a monster."

"Really, Naruto, to be truthful I'm still scared of him. Of what strings he could pull. Which is why I'd kill him, those strings would go limp."

"You're not going to do something crazy like hunt him down or something, are you?" It didn't seem like Sasuke even thought of it, but he had to ask. Had to be sure he wasn't going to lose him now that they finally started to be friends.

"No. I won't see him again anyway. I'm done talking about this though. Tell me what you want to be later in life. After school, I guess."

"I don't care, really. Kushina and Minato left me enough money to live off of, so I never cared about... doing anything. No reason to."

"Hn." He started to write that down.

"Aren't you going to scold me or something?" Everyone else did at his lack of enthusiasm.

"Why would I, when I feel the same way? I've had a private tutor my whole life while I acted and made the big bucks. And suddenly that rug is pulled out from under me. How am I supposed to know what to do with myself? Maybe I'll just go back to acting after I graduate."

Naruto felt a pang in his chest. Just like that, he'd forget them all? Go back to acting and go on like Konoha High and his group of friends never happened? Like Naruto never happened, like he never had a fist fight in the pouring rain in the middle of a mud puddle, only later to help him up and make his first friend. He froze at the thought. Did Sasuke consider him a friend?

"Sasuke. Are we friends?"

The other boy didn't look up to meet his insistent gaze, just kept his head lowered, eyes on the filled out piece of paper for Health. "That's not one of the questions."

The pang in his chest strengthened, but he was determined not to show Sasuke his lack of an answer had gotten to him. If he wanted to be that way, then fine. "I guess it isn't."

Naruto laid down on his bed, looking up at his ceiling, phone in his hand. He turned his head slightly to look at his bedside table, his eyes searching and finding in the darkness the origami vase he set next to his alarm clock. He held the phone up, scrolled through his contacts list, and hit the 'Call' button.

It only had to ring three times. "What's up, kiddo?"

"Are you busy?"

"Nope. You're not in any trouble, are you?"

"I'm not. Not at the moment, anyway." Laughter came from the other end. "I just got back home from Sasuke's. We did our Health questions."

He could tell the man immediately became somber at his words. "Ah. Everything go okay?"

"Yeah, things went fine. We answered everything. I was wondering... maybe it's stupid." Maybe it was. He had gone his whole life up until now without caring about asking these questions. Why should he care about people who deserted him in the most pathetic way possible?

"Naruto?"

"Jiraiya, tell me about them. Why did they do... what they did?"

The man heaved in a sigh and let it out in a whoosh. "I can tell you they loved you. No, Naruto, they did," he added when the blond gave a derisive snort. "They doted on you all the time, and Kushina did nothing but talk about you and do things that helped your health when she was pregnant.

She was a painter, and she was actually a pretty well-known one. The one I gave you for a birthday a few years back... that's one of her's." The one with the fox in the flower field hanging over his TV? He never knew that. "Minato was a cop, and his job was risky. Your mother always had a quick temper and a strong will, but she was one of the most caring people I knew. And she talked a lot. Mostly about you, after she found out about the pregnancy.

Minato... you look just like him, you know. Minato was more calm and level-headed than his wife, and he was very quick. Adapted well. But he could sure as hell be scary when he wanted to be, just in a quiet way."

Naruto didn't say anything for a while, just let the information sink in. About how his parents were. He hasn't seen many photos of them; Jiraiya has them all stored in his apartment and Naruto never asked to see them. He mostly had the tiny picture in his locket, of his parents and a baby him being held between them. Looking happy. He wondered if they wore fake smiles in that picture.

"Didn't they show signs of... depression, or something? Anything?"

"Stress, mostly...," the older man admitted. "Minato had a very stressful job, and he was often gone. He didn't talk about it much." He sounded strained. "I don't know why what happened happened, I only have... I wish I knew, Naruto. Does it help? To talk about it a little?"

"Not very much," Naruto sighed. "It still happened."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah. Well. That's all I wanted to know, really. I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow. And... thanks."

"I'm here any time, Naruto, I hope you know that. May not be the best at times, but I care about you more than anything."

"I know, and I appreciate it. I... love you." Oh god, how sappy. But the loneliness abated a little, knowing Jiraiya was always going to be there.

"I love you too, kid."

Phew, one hell of a chapter. 4,000 words! :P For some reason I couldn't stop laughing when I was typing up the conversation about Bubbles. I think something is wrong with me. Anyway, I did some chapter outlining the other day, and this story is going to be 27 chapters long. So strap in for the ride, it's going to be fun.

Please leave reviews, you have my thanks! :)