Alli̱lopátheia

Author : ない きれい ゆき

(Nai. )

Chivalrous Chaperon

Sorry for the long wait. This story is like my baby and you have to be careful and take your time with your children. Emmaright?

But no excuses. I am responsible for being a really big jerk. And me alone.

…

The bitter winter gusts raged angrily, causing his teeth to chatter at an increased pace. In an attempt to cope, he bundled his ten personal icicles in Northface gloves and burrowed them into his jacket. He continued strolling at a brisk pace, his black scarf dipping below the cleft of his upper lip thus exposing him to the biting chills of late fall. The sun's invisible rays flared over the early but busy outlay of New York City, the roars and blares of active life combing the streets near the barren trees in central park.

"You rang? Are you okay? You're not—" Naruto was swiftly interrupted by the limber lumber of Neji's arms as they formed a sturdy embrace. He pleasantly flinched at the unexpected appreciative gesture. His body was still rejuvenating from the gushing wound of pain Sasuke left behind. He felt long fingers rake his back and a pair of soft lips graze his lower jaw, his nervous system purred. A faint jab of discomfort pricked his arms but faded as he felt Neji's relaxing muscles pull him even closer.

'Relief.'

A smile cracked pinks lips.

If he could be atleast one person's comfort, it was all worth it.

"Thank you for coming," He heard the low sensual voice stroke the lobe of his ear.

His cold, clammy skin nestled into the thick winter coat, his steadying heart beat tangled underneath Neji's, strangely in sync his hands reaching as far as they could up on the brawny male's broad back. Melting into the entanglement, Naruto slowly shut his eyes realizing he was holding onto the taller man too long but decided he didn't care.

Realizing he didn't reply, he murmured a 'no problem,' drunk from comfort.

Feeling the chilled cheek graze his temple, Neji whispered, "Let's sit."

…

"So," Naruto began trying to draw Neji's wandering responsiveness. After they had reluctantly separated and settled on the bench, Neji seemed lose himself to his thoughts. What was his malfunction? Did his brain only work when he was in his arms? Hopefully not—they just met.

"Did you… want to talk?" Naruto's frosty blue eyes were imitated by the light sky, mimicking the array of beauty and hues of slate blue. He leaned closer to Neji in an attempt to entice his gaze. Smooth silver eyes cut to the shivering blond with the incentive of healing, his mane of shiny, slippery brown hair gliding over his shoulder.

"Yes," Neji gauged the concerned man hunched over his depressed, confused form before turning back to the laces of his shoes.

"I don't know…" Neji trailed, feeling like his tongue was slipping from his mouth.

Another brutal wind crushed the eerie calm in the relatively empty park.

"Don't know what Neji?" Naruto moved closer, long lashes pulling over his concentrated gaze, observing the man fight to find words he had to say that might not even exist.

"Where to go from here… Or how to be happy with everything after that's taken place," Neji achieved articulating part of his confusion, his skin paling at the thought of his father skin pierced by so many tubes, his haggard breaths encumbering every conversation to the very last one…

Naruto jerked as the memory immediately stung his fingers, the blood underneath his fingers curdling. He tried to quickly recover from the shock of pain atleast to the point where Neji wouldn't notice his discomfort. He couldn't risk him finding out his special ability—ever.

"Well, happiness is relative. There are times in our life when permanent changes take place. Changes we may not see coming and sometimes changes we don't want. As a part of human nature, we tend to think everything is corroded, with nothing left to salvage but… the truth is everything is just different from before and… Different doesn't always equate to bad, it just means we have to learn to adjust and learn to guide ourselves to a new level of happiness," Naruto explained, a smile crawling onto his frozen lips. He shuffled into his body heated-jacket, watching as Neji. The dark haired man turned surprised at the wisdom young male provided. He had never met anyone so wise since his father…

"A new level of happiness," Neji reiterated under his breath, rolling his words on the shells of his gums—tasting the freedom the words portrayed.

"Yes." Naruto smiled hearteningly, silver eyes prowling over his small brilliantly red studded nose and cold flushed cheeks, ruling his adolescent appearance sinless. Maybe he was the untainted cleansing Neji needed to wash his hands clean of all his mistakes.

"How do you suppose I pursue a new level of happiness?" Neji faintly asked, pondering if such a suggestion was even possible.

"First you have to bury the pain associated with the loss of your father," Naruto's imperative gaze cracked milky metallic eyes.

"I understand he is your father and you'll never forget him and it'll take time but you need to teach your heart to remember only the happy memories," Naruto said, "And maybe in the process, you can find someone…" A grin wiggled back onto that gorgeous face, as he implied something naughtier than comprehended.

"Someone?" Neji asked, confused.

"A romantic partner. Do you have one?" Naruto raised a blond brow.

"No, not at the moment."

"Then sometime in the near future, when you're ready, you can start to—share your love with someone." Naruto glowed like a celestial body in the depth of the night as he discussed romance.

'No one should be that happy to talk about love unless… they're offering themselves,' Neji thought.

Was he? Neji couldn't tell if he was. Through his measured tone and his sweet smile, Naruto's emotions were unintelligible.

"—Someone who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated."

Neji thought of all the intimate relationships he had had been involved in. All of their eyes were flooded with love, love he never reciprocated. Finding commitment ultimately difficult, he simulated a romantic relationship until it became obvious his inherent heart was elsewhere in the universe.

They all left without goodbyes, claiming to be fed up of dating 'assholes'. Not that he was hung up on them.

Maybe this could be the time he could open his heart and meet the woman who would complete his dreams.

It was worth a shot.

He had nothing left to lose.

"It'll all come together." Naruto grinned, his small hand reaching for Neji's shoulder. He tightly gripped it for a second, thankful that there was not anymore pain coming from Neji. The man seemed more clear-headed and more willing to hop on the churning wagon that was steering to a different happiness, the one that would suit his new life.

"And I'll be there every step of the way." Neji stared over at Naruto, feeling the warm vibe of geniality heating his cold figure. He looked at the beautiful man and felt suddenly felt rehabilitated, like this mountain magically transformed into a molehill. A molehill that he finally could climb over.

"Are you going to be alright?" Naruto asked making sure he was attentive to any deceiving facial sign his special ability didn't pick up on.

Neji nodded and Naruto believed it. "Call me later so we can meet up again sometime."

Fluidly moving back toward the park entrance, Naruto was stopped by the urgently deep voice. He whirled around to the long haired man, eyes terrified. "Your eyes!" Naruto's heart pounded out his chest at the accusatory tone. "They're…blue," Neji meekly observed, recalling in the reign of pitch black darkness that prevented him from decoding the color of Naruto's eyes. Now that he was in broad daylight, reserved and relaxed, he could see the beauty he missed the first time.

A sweet sapphire.

Naruto smiled, the deep, striking blue eyes drifted toward the sky, miffed by the comment. He wondered when Neji had noticed his eyes were blue and why exactly he pointed it out. From the way he felt, it wasn't a negative thought, just a small conception in passing.

A slight current flared down his spine.

'I missed it, the first time but I won't miss them again.'

Naruto slipped his hands into pockets a lively, an ephemeral giggle bounced through a quiet ambiance. "Yes, yes they are."

…

Sasuke shoulder shoved through the dawdling adults leisurely strolling on the molecule packed sidewalks of 8th Avenue. He hated moving through these pools of people that nowhere to go, just meandering through the streets delaying the wait time it took to get to their place of employment. Sasuke was already late to work. After stopping by Naruto's apartment and accepting Naruto's invitation into his home, he was about 45 minutes behind schedule.

It was all Naruto's fault. If he hadn't peaked his interest—mentioning his brother and the tragedy of his family then he wouldn't be late for work.

He just sat on the couch holding that stupid pink pillow, looking at him like he was pitifully helpless. It pissed him off so much.

He had gotten by this far with the tactics. There was nothing wrong with him and how he conducted his life. Just because he stayed guarded didn't mean he had a defect.

Lifting his paper cup of black coffee to briefly sip, a snap of his elbow and his coffee crashed to the sidewalk. Sasuke halted staring at the scalding hot drink leaking from the opening, his eyes watching the plastic top rotate on the circular edge before falling flat.

Gray eyes flashing red, his fists tightly united shaking with a puddle of rage, and his scowl resembling the face of a devil's minion—someone who had shaken hands with him, agreed with his sinful, traitorous morals. For all Sasuke knew, he might have descended from hell. It would explain all the awful things he had done in the past and the horrible thing he was about to do now.

"Hey asshole, you made me drop my fucking coffee." Sasuke hissed, roughly forcing the man's shoulder around to face him.

The black haired bared his teeth. "Get the fuck off me, prick. It's not my problem you have butter fingers—"

With a monstrous growl, Sasuke cracked his fist into his nose bone, sending him to the hard concrete with a thud.

"It just became your fucking problem!" Sasuke snarled, feeling a set of hands cage him from attacking the man further.

Holding his broken nose, the man crawled from Sasuke wishing he had held his tongue.

The bystanders gasped and female voices jarringly whispered at the small pond of blood at the offending feet. The dark slick liquid coated his protective hands. His petrified brown spheres almost incited Sasuke to do more damage. He lurched forward, frightening the crowd further, the two women and two men trying to restrict his 6'4" body from continuously assaulting the man to his satisfaction.

That disrespectful fuck.

"Calm down," A man breathed into his ear, "I suggest you leave before the police get here."

Sasuke glimpsed out of the corner of his eyes at the populations' perturbed expressions and he prickled.

He did as he was advised, leaving the scene of his crime.

…

He was standing here again.

But this time with repentance.

Standing here… It made him feel indirectly dependent on this idiot in some way.

Sasuke stared at the number '702' with a vengeance, wishing he didn't feel foolish standing in front of his door.

It had been a week since the incident in front of the international post office at Penn station. He molded everything over in his head. He relived each vicious second and found that he was ashamed of himself… He went batshit crazy and broke a man's nose… over a cup of coffee.

When he thought about it, was childish—elementary. Normal people didn't attack someone over coffee, especially when they had somewhere to go, work to do. There was no telling what he would have done to the lacerated man if those people didn't hold him back. He would probably been short of killing the man if no one had been there to stop him.

It was all an accident but he was still ready to seriously injure him over it. It wasn't worth it and he knew that.

"I want to help you and I'm not taking no for an answer," Sasuke vividly remembered the solid voice predicating to him—engrained in his memory.

He didn't want to be this way anymore. Normality. He wanted to be normal too… And normal people didn't behave this way.

Therapy, he had tried all different types. Interactive. Hypnotization. Group. None of them helped. Even though they were friendly and supportive, it was still unreliably impersonal. They were getting a paycheck to dig into his brain and find out what makes him tick. They haven't experienced loss on the scale he did, and they never would. They were just a nameless face with a note pad and a disjointed, drone voice that insincerely asked him the complexity of his 'issues.'

They weren't real people. They were just an occupation.

So he quit. Taping himself together, he tried to pick up where he left off, patches and all.

Sasuke looked at the metal numbers, longingly.

Maybe Naruto could be glue.

Superglue.

In a flurry, and a loud clatter and a swing of the door, a cry rang out, "I'm gonna be late!"

His mad dash was intercepted by Sasuke standing in the doorway, losing his footing trying to drag his messenger bag from the floor, Naruto tripped into Sasuke's arms that instinctively knew how to catch him.

Wild blueberry eyes blinked twice, and his nose stud twinkled. "Sasuke?" He squeaked.

The pale hands graced the placid leather; his fingertips explored the feel of his soft skin through the arms of his jacket.

Naruto inhaled softly, savoring the adoring touches, appreciating Sasuke wasn't distributing pain to him this time around but just a hint of hesitation.

Sasuke closely inspected Naruto's face for the first time ever and he was flabbergasted. The bridge of his small, straight nose led into the rapturous manner in which his seemingly soft lips quivered open—and those eyes—rimmed by a profound indigo, the fascinating cyan eyes yanked Sasuke's skeleton through his skin.

Their hearts pumped in a coinciding rapidity, waiting for one to take the lead. Feeling pressured, by his own biting silence, Sasuke opened his mouth. "I want… your help. I…" Sasuke's thumbs massaged the arms in an almost caring fashion.

"Don't want to do this, anymore," Sasuke admitted with a gulp.

Not criticizing or mentioning his past mishaps, Naruto understandingly nodded, feeling the large hands slip away.

Sasuke watched his face pull into a forgiving smile and it almost Sasuke feel bad for plowing through all the information he could about his current life. Almost.

"Can you come this afternoon?"

And Alliopatheia has begun (:

You feed Miranda and she will feed you. If you don't, she won't either…

Thanks for reading ;D –sexy wink—

*TheSnowIsNotBeautiful|