2 Ready, Set, Go

Naruto was parked outside the set in his car. His palms were sweatier than his third-grade professor, Mr Mizuki when he got caught leaking question papers for money.

He took a long, chilling breath of the cool morning air and breathed out, trying for some light meditation but he was just about ready to vibrate into another dimension if that's a possible occurrence.

This would be his first long-term project, his first TV show, his first script with a story arc; so many firsts. More than he thought he could handle right now. He was early as well, another first. He glanced at his watch and huffed at the stubbornly slow, crawling pace time had decided to move at. Call time was still two fucking hours away!

He'd been woken up at the asscrack of dawn by Sakura and her slap-happy wake-up technique she calls 'Up and At 'Em no Jutsu.' A technique that was simply her karate chopping his head till he cracked open an eye to glare her away. After that, he spent a good hour and a half at the gym with Rock Lee. A lounging in the sauna and a shower later, Naruto was too awake and wired to complain about anything.

So there he sat, in his car, a latte and a cheesy bagel awaiting him as he simply flipped through the script, looking through the lines and scenes they had done read-throughs and blocking for over the last week. He was not worried about much; Naruto had spent enough time fooling people into thinking he was an absolute moron to worry about expectations, that's not to say he didn't have any of his own. It still alleviated six kinds of stress when nobody else held him to any sort of standard.

If anything all, he was worried about one thing since the mixer at the Uchiha manor.

At the manor, he'd met Uchiha Junior.

While Naruto had done his best to avoid looking at the dark-haired man, the way he'd looked at Naruto from the moment he'd descended those stairs had Naruto on the verge of squirming.

The intense gaze pinned him and the look in those eyes was torturingly familiar. While his face had looked disinterested and even mildly irked, those eyes spilt secrets like a traitor. He'd seen it all, loneliness, self-loathing, a…a hint of arousal and a desperate flicker of hope in the dead black eyes of the younger Uchiha.

He hated it. Who did the lily-white boy think he was anyway? Probing at his mind silently from across the room like that. It was cause for great discomfort later that night, in his dreams, when the man seemed to try and use his eyes to delve into Naruto's eyes, as though diving for hidden treasures, trying to collect pearls.

Naruto huffed then reached for the steaming cup of coffee, taking a slow sip of the sweet drink. He had no idea who Sasuke thought he was but the emo dude was not allowed to look at him like that… in a way that was almost desperately pleading. By the questioning black gaze, it was clear Sasuke didn't remember him.

Whatever.

Naruto put his coffee cup back and flipped through the script, reading up on what was to happen in scenes to come, making notes with a pen of orange ink. He streamlined his thoughts, noting character emotions he can let slip in early scenes so as to form a base for emotions to come later on.

Naruto was halfway through the season when his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Naruto! Ino here! Kakashi asked me to ask you if you could come to set a bit early today, like as early as possible." Naruto sighed. Cradling his cell phone against his shoulder he picked up his coffee, bagel and script and got out of the car. He headed for warehouse number 7. "Itachi and all were talking and we figured we could go through a few styles to see what suits your character, gather a closet that looks good on your skin tone and run through a few hairstyles—"

He slowly slipped in the side entrance and wandered the corridors while Ino chewed his ear off going on about how red and black would look way better on him but blue and white had its appeal. He found the crew setting up the set, props and all sorts of neat things he hoped to poke his nose into. He waved to them – and a few waved back hesitantly – as he made his way in a sure gait to the blonde who was still yapping away at him about textures and fabrics.

Lucky for him, she wasn't looking his way.

"Anyway, it'd be better to show you in person. So whaddya say? Can you come in a bit early?" She cut her own tirade off, her voice echoed for him, the one coming over the cell phone and the one in front of him overlapping. She was standing by a set of light up mirrors and portable changing rooms, a comb and a pair of scissors being slowly spun in her hand.

Unable to curb his urge to play prankster, he leant in close to Ino, whispering in the ear her phone was not being held against. "Sure thing! Is now okay?"

She jumped a mile in the air, screeching in shock like a banshee while wielding the scissors for his face like a kunai, in a purely defensive attack.

Naruto beat a quick retreat on instinct, his eyes wide and heartbeat in his ears even as a hand came out from behind him, settling between them with a vice like grip on the hand of the blonde girl, stilling her frantic attack but not her high pitched battle cry.

Naruto winced, backing away even more from Ino, backing up into the person whose hand that had helped him not get stabbed on his first day of work.

Sasuke saw what was going down as if in slow motion. Naruto stepped up to the blonde woman, a very naughty smile playing on his lips. He whispered in her ear softly, almost intimately.

Had it been other circumstances he'd have had to deal with his own emotions of actual disappointment at the fact that Naruto had chosen to give his attention to the blonde woman right after his entrance, but luckily he had other more pressing matters to deal with like the fact that his body had moved on its own to protect the blond from having his jugular severed by Ino's unusually quick reaction.

"Ohmyfuckinggod, I'm so fucking sorry, Ino. Remind me never to mess with you! Shit! You almost stabbed my eyes out!" Naruto muttered as he backed away from the woman and further into Sasuke's personal space, then he gulped at the close shave, Sasuke observed the way his Adam's apple bobbed.

He especially noted the apologetic way Naruto chose to compliment Ino instead of ripping her a new asshole for attacking him like a diva. "That was some ninja shit right there. Whatever self-defence classes you're taking, you keep on it! That was the best reaction I've seen. Even my best mate, who's a star athlete wasn't able to…Hey, are you okay?"

Ino stared at Naruto for a good two minutes during which Sasuke let go of her hand. She was probably unable to merge her spiked fear with the harmlessly adorable face and the honeyed hoarse voice of Naruto.

"Jesus fucking Christ at Eurovision! Don't ever do that again, pretty boy!" She fumbled a bit before getting out the words, still shocked at the first-degree murder she'd almost committed. Which probably wouldn't have bothered her as much had Naruto looked half as attractive as he did.

"While your… skills with sharp objects have been noted, Ino. We don't have anyone to replace him with. It would be wise to refrain from stabbing—" While Sasuke started talking Naruto tilted his head then turned to face him. Blue swirling whirlpools met consuming black holes and the air got immediately sucked away, taking Sasuke's voice with it.

Those eyes looked at him with surprised awe.

"Thanks." The words left Naruto's lips softly, his eyes shining with admiration directed at Sasuke. Admiration. Directed at Sasuke. At Sasuke. Of all people.

Sasuke gulped and backed away; taking a much-needed breath he'd lost to the shorter man. All the gates he'd slammed shut, locked up and sealed for good measure were slowly creaking open with a single look from those eyes.

"Your reflexes are on point, dude. I think you just saved my life."

I saved his life?

Ino rolled her eyes at the way Sasuke didn't reply, didn't even nod to acknowledge Naruto's gratitude. "Okay, okay, pretty boy. You can thank him later, come on we need to get your hair fixed. Do you mind if I snip it a bit? Get it all short and spiky, all in your eyes. The girls will love it!"

Sasuke felt a hand on his shoulder and he had to tense up to refrain from reacting the way Ino had.

"Otōto." Itachi's voice sounded hollow and haunted itself. But maybe that was just Sasuke projecting.

"Nii-san." Sasuke allowed his gaze to follow Naruto to the mirrors where Ino took to cutting at his golden lock. If Sasuke looked away it was not because the idea of anyone other than him touching those locks felt like blasphemy to him. And certainly not because in his opinion the shaggy wavy hair of varying lengths, with the longest falling to right under his ears suited Naruto very much. Definitely not because the loss of them feels like a personal loss and a shame.

"Do you approve of the star we have acquired for the show?" Itachi asked. "You certainly look like you do."

"I don't see any proof of stardom yet, Nii-san." Sasuke gave air to his doubts.

"Oh, you'll be surprised what that boy can do once the camera is rolling!" A cheerful new voice made both the brothers turn to face the newcomers.