I had such a productive day today. Can you believe I read a 334-page book in Finnish in a week and a half, reading like 80 of them today? And doing so well with homework lately... What's happening to me? I'm turning into a good student! Which is good because finals are coming up... Yay.
Anyway, this chapter is also a pretty happy one, even though some of you have been apparently crying due to lack of smex, so I included some. Just a little. Next chapter will be much more serious:p
I really put in an effort tonight to finish this up, it's currently 1 AM... It might take a while until the next update because of studying and visiting friends.
Btw, I now updated my profile with info on the oneshots I'll be writing from my poll, it's going to be pretty fun I think...
Warning: Mentions of straight sex. I know, it's terrible isn't it.
Chapter thirty-two: I can't believe you don't remember
'
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the sight of a certain red-haired man exiting his brother's office. It had been almost two weeks since the whole 'breaking and entering' thing, and he hadn't heard anything yet. When Gaara noticed him his face didn't reveal anything, he simply nodded at him and proceeded to walk past him.
Sasuke didn't accept it.
"Hey" he said, grabbing the other's wrist to stop him in his tracks. "Have you found anything yet?"
"We're still going through everything" was the answer, but something made Sasuke feel like that wasn't completely true.
"It's been two weeks" he said with narrowed eyes.
"Well, I'm afraid I don't have a legion of minions doing the job for me."
Not appreciating the underhanded jab at his own position in the company delivered with such apparent amusement he tightened his grip around Gaara's wrist, pulling him closer and staring him straight in the eye.
"Really Sasuke, what would your brother say if he saw us like this?"
"Why can't you just tell me what you've found so far?" Sasuke demanded, but Gaara only sighed and used his free hand to release the hold Sasuke had of him.
"Simply because I'm not sure of what I've found yet, and there's no point spreading possibly wrong assumptions around."
"You talk to Itachi."
"Of course I talk to Itachi." Gaara's lips quirked a little upwards, making him look much less serious again and more teasing. "I need my weekly dose of terror after all."
"I really don't see how he stands you" he answered, giving up for the moment since it was pointless to try and get anything out of Gaara. For once he was talking to someone besides his brother that he'd probably lose to in an argument.
Gaara shrugged, glancing up at the clock on the wall, unconsciously doing that brushing through his fringe thing again. He must have noticed Sasuke glancing at the tattoo on his forehead because he brushed the hair completely to the side, revealing the kanji for love in red ink.
"Not telling you the story though" he said, and apparently those were his parting words because he turned around and walked down the corridor, his steps that of a man on a mission.
Catching himself spacing out as he stared at the now empty corridor he quickly made his way over to Itachi's office, finding his brother deep in thought.
"So he did have news" he said accusingly, managing to startle the older Uchiha, a not as uncommon thing as one might think.
When Itachi was thinking he really was thinking.
"Was there anything else you wanted?"
"So you're not even denying it."
Sasuke stared hard at his brother, but as always nothing could be read from the perfect poker face of Uchiha Itachi.
"There's no point. But Sasuke…" Itachi paused, the mask falling to reveal concern. "I hope you don't think I'm keeping things from you just because I can. If I had the option of not knowing I would take it."
It was hard to object when his brother looked at him like that. With a frustrated sigh he sat down, dropping the business act and letting the strain he suffered from show.
"Maybe you're right" he said, looking out the window. Their father had made a good choice when building this office, the view was amazing. "But just because it's better not to know it doesn't mean it'll make me feel better."
They were silent for a while, each sinking into their own thoughts. Itachi broke the silence before it got too heavy though.
"So you're meeting Karin tonight?"
Sasuke blinked. Seeing Gaara had blown all thoughts about what was happening tonight out of his brain. Slowly, a smirk formed on his mouth.
"Oh, I'm meeting her alright."
Itachi shook his head at the almost evil purring emanating from Sasuke. He wasn't surprised though; Sasuke had been quite upset when Karin told him through a text a few days ago to leave Yukio and all his stuff at school and then she'd pick him up in the afternoon, not answering when he called.
"Just make sure you're alone if you're going to start any fights."
Sasuke frowned.
"What would we fight about? I just want to ask her some questions. Are you sure you don't know her by the way?"
Itachi chuckled at the suspicious look his little brother sent him.
"I've never had sex with her if that's what you want to know."
Sasuke made a dismissive sound, looking down at his lap and realizing that he'd come to see Itachi for a complete other reason. Sighing and putting the folder on the desk he pushed all thoughts of later away, going into business mode again.
Sometimes he wished he wasn't so good at what he was doing.
~Line breaker~
Naruto dragged his feet into his hotel room, tired after a day full of scuba diving. Dumping his stuff unceremoniously on the floor and shrugging out of his shoes he made his way over to the bed, falling down on it face first, not caring about the sand he probably spread around.
He'd had a lot of fun today. It had taken him about a week to relax, to realize that he really was far away from home. When the realization struck him it had felt as if a rope wound tightly around his lungs had been cut off and he could breathe again. He'd spent the past two weeks enjoying himself as much as possible, pushing all his worries far off into the back of his mind.
Escaping for a while sure felt good. He should feel guilty about it, but it was such a huge relief to just be on his own among happy strangers, acting just like them without a care in the world. He'd joined a group of mismatched backpackers, their sole intention to experience everything they could and have a great time while they did it.
It was extremely refreshing.
Traveling around, doing odd jobs or sightseeing, he just let go of all restraints and enjoyed living. Today had changed things a little though. He didn't know what it was, but there was this tiny nagging feeling in his body that it was time to get his shit straight and stop messing around. Not the same way it had felt at home, because this wasn't painful like that.
It was just this impatient feeling that if he was going to change somehow then this was the time to figure out in which direction. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, looking at the screen, noting how late it was. He still had the picture he'd taken of him and Sasuke in that pile of leaves their first week together as background. It was strange to think back on it, but as always the picture made him smile. During the time it took him to fly over here he'd been so worried, thinking of all the what ifs and that maybe Sasuke would forget about him.
He wasn't worried anymore though. No matter how he or Sasuke felt while alone they always felt better while talking on Skype, smiling and joking like normal. And it didn't feel forced. He was just on a trip for a while, because he needed it, and he'd come back feeling better whether he accomplished something or not.
Just knowing that Sasuke hadn't given up on him made it all so much easier.
He hoped his boyfriend wasn't feeling too lonely now that Yukio had gone back home. He snorted at the memory of Sasuke's indignation at Karin refusing to meet. His cousin was always like that though, not really caring what was polite and what wasn't.
Rolling over on his back he stretched his arms out, arching his back off the bed for a few moments. Relaxing again he dropped his phone to the side, scratching his stomach. There was one huge drawback to the distance – the lack of sex obviously. It was definitely boring not to have a sexy Sasuke at his disposal, he'd gotten so used to it that it felt weird to go to bed without at least a heated make-out session. He closed his eyes, imagining Sasuke crouching above him, a sultry look in his eyes as he teased him with that voice that just leaked sex everywhere. He should convince him that Skype was almost as good as the real deal.
Pushing up his t-shirt he played with a nipple, pretending Sasuke was licking it. Maybe he'd rub himself against him too. Yeah, that sounded good.
His other hand found his groin, massaging through his shorts, the thought of Sasuke moaning into his mouth as they kissed heating up his body. He'd roll them around, pinning Sasuke underneath himself, sucking on his throat, playing the game of how hard he could suck until Sasuke pushed him away with a complaint to stop leaving marks all the time.
He fast-forwarded through the foreplay, clothes disappearing magically in his mind as he pushed down shorts and boxers to get some real friction. Their kissing would be harsher, needier, teeth nibbling lips and breaths mixing. He'd feel Sasuke's body aligned to his, close but never close enough. Skin sliding against flushed skin, Sasuke's cock hard against his stomach or thigh, arms tangling everywhere as they struggled for more contact.
A thumb brushing over the head of his erection mimicking Sasuke's teasing made him shudder with arousal, the air-conditioned room suddenly too hot. He let out a groan, being vocal always turned him on more. Not to mention that Sasuke in his head now slid down his body, a hungry look glittering in his dark eyes as his mouth found great interest in his bellybutton.
Oh damn, he hadn't realized how much he missed the physical contact, feeling extra sensitive as he pinched one nipple hard. He didn't have to go for long, steady strokes bringing him towards completion in sync with his imaginary thrusting. With a quiet moan he released, not wanting to disturb any neighbors, remembering the feeling of Sasuke shuddering against him through his own orgasm.
Coming down from his high he felt like a boneless heap, a lump slowly forming in his throat as his imaginary pictures of Sasuke dispersed.
He really wished he could just go home.
A sudden sound in the silence startled him, and with a frown he reached for his phone. Seeing the name and photo on the screen fear ran up his spine like a cold shiver. For Sasuke to call him like this…
Putting the phone to his ear he closed his eyes, hoping for good news and not bad.
~Line breaker~
Sasuke drove towards Yukio's school filled with determination. Besides the fact that he wanted to see Yukio's school play since the kid was crazy excited about playing the dragon (what else?), he was also looking forward to meeting Karin. He had some questions that demanded an answer.
He was a little late, as in finding a place to park was going to be hell. Swearing to himself after circling the parking lot once he sped off into a side street, finally finding a spot along a road that wasn't too far away.
Hurrying towards the front door of the school building he fished his ticket out of his pocket, showing it to the little girls standing as a welcome-party dressed in very sparkly clothing. Sneaking inside, trying to appear inconspicuous so that he wouldn't catch the attention of a certain woman he still wasn't sure what she looked like besides bright red hair, he found a seat somewhere in the middle of the back rows.
Ignoring the looks he got from mothers and older sisters he scanned the area, spotting someone that might fit the description at the front. Narrowing his eyes he thought back to the text he'd gotten. It wasn't just obvious that she was avoiding him, it was so impolite! It was like an arrow straight to his strict upbringing.
He was going to tell her one thing and another about leaving her son in his care for over a month and then not even bothering to thank him.
Returning to the present he listened to an annoyingly loud little boy introducing the play to everyone, the parents laughing sweetly and someone's older brother shouting words of encouragement. As the play started though he had to admit that it was rather cute, the children either living into their roles a tad too much or so shy it was difficult to hear them or even see their faces.
Yukio was the most impressive one. He was wearing a home-made dragon outfit consisting of card-board and fabric, and his loud attempt at roars made everyone struggle not to laugh. It was comical in a cute kind of way. Sasuke took a few pictures with his phone and even recorded the final song at the end of the whole thing. Naruto had made him promise, but he probably would have done it anyway.
After three rounds of applauses the audience was told to go into their children's separate classrooms, seeing as it was a combination of two classes in the play. Sasuke quickly made his way over to the right, following the stream, finding the red-haired woman easily in the now thinner crowd. Smoothly moving through the comfortably chatting relatives he closed in on her, but then he was abruptly cut off by a girl in her older teens sneaking up next to him and introducing herself.
Not wanting to be impolite in an environment like this he responded to her, feeling a little disturbed by the hearts in her eyes.
Sorry girl, you're not getting any tonight he thought, the voice in his head sounding a lot like Naruto's as she tried to subtly ask if he was free later that night. Excusing himself once they entered the classroom where the desks had been put to the side along the walls he spotted the woman again, now fairly sure that she had to be Karin. She was standing in the middle of the room talking to a middle-aged woman he recognized as the mother of one of Yukio's friends, he'd thrown a birthday party a few weeks ago that Yukio obviously attended.
Casually walking up to them he nodded at the other woman who spotted him first, a smile breaking out on her face as he came up to them.
"Hello Sasuke! You came to see the play?" she asked, but Sasuke ignored her question in favor of observing Yukio's mother.
Looking at her more closely he could see that the straight hair seemed to have suffered from attempts at keeping it under control and she was wearing black thick-rimmed glasses. Her clothes were surprisingly modest compared to the impression he'd gotten of her, a white frilly blouse over dark blue jeans. She also seemed to be around Itachi's age, her dark eyes widening and her face blanching slightly once she turned and noticed him.
She collected herself quickly though, narrowing her eyes that he now saw had a red hue to them and crossing her arms defiantly.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, and Sasuke felt his whole body bristle at the rude greeting.
"Oh, I'm sorry" he said. "I wasn't aware that it was unexpected of me to show up to the school play of the kid I took care of for, hmm, more than a month."
He glared at her and she flinched, looking to the side guiltily. Then her eyes turned back to him, now with a hint of curiosity in them mixed with something else.
Apprehension maybe.
Before they had time to say anything else, Yukio's friend's mother too surprised to produce any sounds, Iruka showed up with a big smile on his face.
"Hey there!" he said joining them, the other woman taking her chance to escape. "It's nice that you came too Sasuke, Yukio was probably the one most excited about this play! I didn't see Naruto though?"
He looked between them, mildly questioning, not noticing the tense atmosphere at all.
"My dear cousin escaped the country" Karin answered, not changing her tone of voice from before.
Before Sasuke could retort Iruka stepped between them, grabbing their shoulders and steering them towards the table with coffee and cookies.
So maybe he wasn't oblivious to the atmosphere after all.
"Why don't you two grab some coffee and have a nice conversation over at that table?" he suggested, the promise of pain if they didn't behave easy to pick up on. "Yukio will be back soon."
Glancing at each other suspiciously they did as told, neither enjoying being treated like kids by the teacher. Sitting down Sasuke sipped at the coffee, grimacing a little. He was never much of a coffee person, not liking the thought of being addicted to something. He raised an eyebrow, noticing Karin looking very much on edge and uncomfortable, avoiding his eyes now.
"So" Sasuke started, not wanting to waste any time, "Who is Yukio's dad?"
Karin choked on the brown liquid, coughing ungracefully while covering her mouth.
"As if it concerns you" she wheezed out.
"So you know who it is" he answered in a smug voice, smirking when she glared at him.
"I'll tell you over my dead body" she grumbled, thinning her lips into a line.
Sasuke leaned over the table, looking at her seriously.
"I'm not the one who wants to know" he said quietly, knowing he'd hit a weak spot in her defense. "But I get if you don't want to tell him until he's older if his dad is some criminal or something."
A wry smile ghosted over Karin's face as she seemed to lose herself momentarily for a moment.
"It wasn't like that" she said, looking down into her cup and sighing. "I'm surprised you don't know already."
Sasuke watched her in silence for a few seconds, thinking over how to proceed.
"So it does have something to with an Uchiha?" he asked, not expecting her to raise her head and throw her hair over a shoulder with a snort.
"All this time I tried to avoid you thinking you'd find out, and in the end you don't remember anything."
Sasuke didn't like the way she said it, as if she thought he was stupid. And to think Naruto had said she was one of his fangirls.
"Then enlighten me" he bit out, trying to control his temper. It had been more difficult lately, what with everything that was happening.
"I'd rather not" she replied, on the defense again, raising a hand to push her glasses back on her nose, holding on to the side of the them and then taking them off in an apparently unconscious gesture as she looked away from him, tapping the end of the right frame on her lower lips.
And suddenly Sasuke was transported back in time to a horrible event he'd thought he'd succeeded in forgetting completely.
"Debbie?" he choked out, his whole body frozen with shock as he stared at her.
Her reaction would have been funny if he wasn't so busy trying to suppress certain disgusting images from his mind. She jumped violently, her glasses leaving her hand and hitting someone in the back before falling onto the floor, and she hurriedly went to retrieve them. Since she looked as if she wanted to escape Sasuke stood up as well, walking over to her and grabbing her arm, ignoring the surprised looks from the people closest to them.
"You are Debbie aren't you?" he accused, pulling her back when she tried to get out of his grip.
Giving up she sighed, closing her eyes and mumbling something to herself.
"Let's go talk outside" she then said, dragging him out of the room and into the deserted corridor.
As they walked pictures flashed before Sasuke's eyes, the one worse than the other.
They'd been on a cruise. Not just him, Itachi and his parents, no, a big portion of the Uchiha clan had been there, renting the whole ship.
It had been his birthday present. He turned sixteen. It was the worst birthday he'd ever had.
There were aunts and second cousins and god knows what or how loosely they were related. Luckily everyone had ignored him the whole time besides the birthday dinner, when they were all forced to wish him happy birthday. Really, the whole thing had just been an excuse to have some kind of family reunion; his parents had been married for 25 years or something like that.
There had been lots of servants on the ship, and all of them had their own personal one, or at least a family servant.
As the birthday boy Sasuke of course got his own.
'Debbie'.
He still shivered in discomfort whenever he heard that name, and he went out of his way to make sure it wasn't often.
When Naruto said fangirl he didn't know how right he'd been.
They stood quiet opposite each other for maybe half a minute, measuring each other with their eyes. Almost eight years had passed since then, and he grudgingly admitted that Karin looked less crazy now. At the time though she'd seemed to grab any and every opportunity to flirt with him – or his brother – using her scantily clad body shamelessly, not to mention those horrible glasses. They had been even thicker back then. Oh, he'd lost count of how many times he just wanted to rip them off her face and snap them in his hands, and then jump on them for good measure.
No wait, it was 348 times. He'd counted during the three weeks he spent trapped on that goddamn ship.
He hoped it had sunk somewhere. The Mariana trench preferably.
"Memories coming back to you?" Karin broke the silence with, giving him an uncertain look that she tried to disguise as a taunt.
"I can't believe you had sex with someone in my family" he said, not really aware of his surroundings anymore, missing the incredulous look passing over Karin's features.
"You know who I had sex with" she told him, taking a step forwards and narrowing her eyes dangerously.
"But… you spent most of your time with my family, and Itachi said it wasn't him…" he trailed off, pure horror flashing through his body. "It wasn't my father was it?" he asked, voice breaking and sounding very much panicked.
"Are you fucking insane!?" Karin shouted, taking two long steps and grabbing his shirt. She started shaking him violently, shouting at him. "What the hell would I do with your dad! I can't believe you! How can you be so dumb and not remember!"
Sasuke was shell-shocked. He'd never been shaken like this before, and certainly not by a woman. Desperately trying to focus his gaze on her angry face he felt his body go limp, not really able to take the mental strain anymore.
Of course he remembered.
He had nightmares about those memories for fuck's sake!
Karin seemed to notice the change in his features, going from confusion to grimacing to surprise, settling for some kind of reluctant realization. Slowing down her shaking and falling silent she swallowed, stopping her motion completely. Her hands were pretty much the only thing holding him up, and when she let go he promptly sat down on the floor, at a loss for words.
"I… we…" he struggled to find the words. "You… you used me" he finally choked out, looking up at her.
A few moments of silence, then something hard connected with his cheek.
Oh, she punched him.
"That's exactly why I didn't want you to find out!" she screeched, her voice most certainly reaching into the classroom. "You'd come up with some retarded excuse like that! As if I wanted anything to do with your crazy family once I realized what kind of people they really are!"
She was breathing heavily after her shouting, Sasuke staring up at her with a gaping mouth. He was quite sure he must have looked ridiculous, but he didn't care.
He'd had sex with Naruto's cousin.
No, not just sex.
He'd fucking lost his virginity to her.
He wanted to cry. He wanted to just lie down right then and there on the floor and curse the heavens for making him remember something like that.
It was beyond embarrassing; it was the most stupid thing he'd done in his entire life.
Really, what did he think? That sleeping with a girl would turn him straight?
If anything it just made him even more convinced that no, girls were not the thing for him.
The memory was pretty hazy though, but it had involved lots of alcohol and he'd spent most of the time with his eyes closed and pretending he was doing a guy who just accidentally happened to have a girly voice.
Only the fact that his teenage body was very horny made him able to go through with the whole thing.
Pausing his train of thought his mind zoned in on that last part. The whole thing. He stared at Karin, her expression impatient as if she was waiting for him to catch up.
And once he did his chin dropped so low it might as well have reached the floor. He opened and closed it a few times, forming silent words, having absolutely no idea of how he was supposed to ask for confirmation.
"How?" he settled for in the end, his voice weak as if all strength had left his body permanently.
Karin squatted down in front of him, looking as if she didn't know whether to laugh or cry in frustration.
"We had sex Sasuke. Unprotected I might add if you don't remember that."
"Of course I remember!" Somehow he found a little bit of strength again. "That's why I asked how, didn't you take pills or something?"
He racked his brain for some sort of memory as to how they ended up forgetting the condom. Maybe he just didn't have one. It's not like he'd been planning it.
"Well I'd just run out of them. And I thought it was fine anyway. Apparently I was wrong."
The way she said it had his mind reeling. It felt as if his whole world had just shifted, and in some ways it had.
He wasn't just Uchiha Sasuke anymore.
He was Uchiha Sasuke, father.
Fumbling after his phone in his pocket with numb fingers he gripped his phone, noticing that his hand was shaking as he looked at the screen.
"What are you doing?" Karin asked, and he swallowed, feeling dizzy.
"Well I'm calling Naruto obviously" he answered, pressing the call button before she had time to object.
There was no way he could deal with this alone right now.
Obvious? Shocking? At least Sasuke got a shockXD Now I'm going to sleep while Sasuke is haunted by bad memories... Naruto's stuff will get attention next chapter, promise! And I couldn't help adding Gaara at the beginning...^^
And for some pointless rambling so you can all postpone whatever other boring things you have to do after reading this chapter: I was once supposed to be in a school play. I was six years old and playing Snow White, and the most popular guy in class was the prince, so of course I was very smug about it. Then I chickened out and refused to perform in front of an audience. I remember sitting there looking at the others on stage and feeling stupid.
I've gotten over my stage fright since. I've even sung on occasion! Poor audience... XD Goodnight~
