A/N:
Review Replies:
Yu-lin: Yeah, I know about Itachi being a goth is cliché… but I can't see him in any other style! Mehe xD besides, it is smexxy, ne? xD
Gonrie: Don't worry about it! Neji will like Naruto, yes… but let's be honest here- Sasuke is way better in the long run! I mean, Neji only wants to please Naruto, with the concerttickets and all that, right? Being overly nice to him? Well, Sasuke will always be himself and that is better eventually xD at least, that's the way I see it anyway! So no, I won't put a lot NejiNaru in it. Just the competition for Sasuke n.n
Jelp: I know, it's a hard choice.. I like Sasuke and Neji equally, but I like the pairing SasuNaru more than NejiNaru.. hehe, and yes, Hinata likes Naruto, but she won't be playing a significant part… she'll end up with someone else though. And no, there will be no Gaara! XD I mean, Naruto is already having TWO hot guys after him… I couldn't do that to him- however will he choose? I might make Gaara into his friend though, I'd like that xD
Devil Subaru Chan: Hehehe… well, I'm not going to give anything away about Itachi, because that would ruin everything… but don't worry- he's not going to like Naruto, at least not in a boyfriend kind of way… he's just the annoying big brother XD and yah… you should read to find out! Ino is troublesome too, but maybe a little less than Sakura- I mean, she seems to care about more than just Sasuke!
Trekiael: Ah, well, I always want to have some sort of rivalry going on.. it would be too easy for Sasuke if there wasn't any! And don't worry, Hinata doesn't know about Naruto being gay… and I won't be putting her into the story a lot anyway xD And yeah, one of them will find out who the one they've been talking to is… but I'm not sure about how I'm going to do that… maybe I'll take your suggestion, ne? xD
Baka Manuke: Yes, I actually thought about this story when I saw that… when I saw it, I pointed at the TV and yelled 'OMG SASUNARU FIC!'… really, it happened xD anway, yeah I thought about Anko… but I couldn't see her as the evil stepmom somehow… I always imagine her more to be the creepy yet fun teacher at a high school xD
White Evergreen: Yes, yes! Ero-sennin! Ooooh, I want to put him in so badly… and don't worry, I will! I think I've written about him somewhere earlier, a little bit though… mehe, it's just a small sentence xD I love Jiraiya, so don't worry about him… hehehehe, he'll be there… probably in this chapter XD
Jenni Kuniochi: Yippy! I expect to see reviews from you EVERY chapter!... just kidding. I would like it though XD
Hara Junko: Yeah, it starts out a bit boring, doesn't it? Glad you kept on reading though!
Reader-chan: Why, thank you! I'm glad with the amount of reviews I already have though! The day after I updated chapter 3… well, I kinda looked like Naruto's imitation of a goldfish:
Me: -goes to ff- WTF OVER 40 REVIEWS O.O… o.o….o.o….o.o….
Yeah… I kept that up for about half an hour xD
Hikari no Kurai: … oh, a lot of questions xD Ehm… lets begin answering: No, not yet anyway. You'll read that in this chapter. Yeah, Naruto is… well, you'll read that pretty soon too xD… next question! Kyuubi isn't a nickname from his father, Kitsune is though… and the reason why he isn't using that is because it was something between him and his dad… sentimental kind of thing n.n No, his father left everything to his second wife, because he thought she was nice and stuff and he trusted her to take care of Naruto properly… they only keep him around for work around the house and stuff like that o.o
Moar, Muchacha, Gold Silk, Iyfanatic, Fuzzy on Fire, Kichi Hasaki, Cracked Moon, Charlie911 (yes, SasuNaru and I don't know what will happen to Neji yet xD), thuyhy-thuyhy, erning, blah, Chubby-King-Chcocobo, Rathrahk, Danya2, Shannigan, prettybeka, Rikouchan: THANKS FOR REVIEWING! And keep on doing it! (please xD)
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His heart was beating rapidly inside his throat- it seemed to want to pound right through his skin. Naruto stared down at the words for the tenth time.
It wasn't like Sharingan had never insinuated to meet each other ('I wish I could see you right now', 'You're sad? You want me to come and cheer you up?' and other comments similar to that), but he had never actually asked him so bluntly to meet each other. It somehow felt different than when he asked him indirectly.
And Naruto didn't know what to do.
On the one hand, he could accept and they could meet. They could fall madly in love with each other and live happily ever after. Sharingan would take him away from his evil stepsisters and stepmother and they would live in a house filled with instant ramen packages. And they would have a butler.
Naruto drooled at the thought.
But then he thought about the other possibility- Sharingan could be some kind of asshole who said those things as a cruel prank and would make a fool out of him in front of the whole school. They all would laugh at him, call him a 'fag' and beat him up on a regular base. At least now he was invisible most of the time- they didn't spare him a second glance. Most of them hated him, but they didn't beat him up…
Naruto shrugged. No, he couldn't go through with it.
But what if it's not a joke? A voice inside his head said. There always was that possibility.
He threw his phone on the bed and decided to think about it for a while- besides, he wasn't in a hurry. They did have all the time in the world.
--
Sasuke stared down at his phone, waiting anxiously for a reply.
He didn't mean to push Kyuubi, but he wanted to meet him- especially since certain feelings arose whenever he saw a certain blonde. They hadn't been there long, but they were there… the way Naruto always smiled, no matter what happened, his incredible blue eyes and the way he pouted whenever he didn't get his way. He was cute, to say the least.
The feelings he had, or the feelings he at least started having, confused him greatly and he wanted to get rid of them. After all, Kyuubi was the only one who understood him, right? He was the only one who could ever understand him. Right?
Several hours passed and Sasuke did not receive a reply.
---
Sunday passed quickly. Naruto stayed in his room most of the time, only creeping out to get something to eat from the kitchen. He heard Sakura and Ino yelling several times at him ("Idiot! You didn't wash my clothes!" and "Mom said to clean the pool, you lazy ass!"), but he ignored them and decided to read a book to keep his mind occupied. It was a rather interesting one- even though he had to read it for his English class. The amount of time he had spent on reading, he did not know, but he luckily was able to kill some time.
Also, to get into the mood for the Shinedown concert he would be going to next Friday, he put on some music while reading. It was really enjoyable, until he tripped over several books that were lying on the ground as he was dancing and playing the air guitar. He quickly scanned his room and decided it was time for his annual cleaning ( and I do mean annual- Naruto cleaned his room once a year at the most).
Naruto had never really been a very clean person- in fact, he'd rather die than clean. It got worse, of course, after his stepmother practically forced him to clean the entire house every two days so they wouldn't need a housekeeper (his stepmother was too lazy to do it herself). So, he was too tired to clean up his own room and only did so about once a year… and he usually found some disgusting things hidden behind his desk, chair or bed.
"Heh, that's where Sasuke tripped… that was funny," he grinned slightly at the memory of the usual stoic boy, who tripped over one of the many schoolbooks lying in his room. Yeah, Sasuke really had to try hard to keep his composure as Naruto kept on laughing. It had earned a smack from the boy though, but the blonde didn't mind it that much- it wasn't that hard.
Besides, the raven-haired boy looked rather… cute, when that happened.
Naruto sighed- it wasn't like he could ever have anyone like Sasuke and he didn't want someone like him either- popular. Actually, the biggest problem with Sasuke was that he was so damn popular, if it hadn't been for that… well, maybe Naruto would actually like him a bit more, instead of resenting him so much.
The Uchiha was hot- he had to acknowledge that. And he was nice… sort of. Well, he could be nice, if he wanted to. Like how he had told Sakura off and when he gave Naruto and even when his insane brother entered the room- Sasuke had protected him.
He was annoying though. Sasuke constantly called him an idiot, never said anything about himself or his family (with the exception of Itachi, but that was a warning… that didn't count) and was always either smirking, glaring or brooding. Naruto didn't know which one of these options was the best one.
It had also came to his attention that he hadn't thought about Sharingan that much in the past week. But Naruto simply shrugged and came with the conclusion that it was because he had a lot on his mind lately.
And the thought about Sharingan… also brought him the thought of meeting him. He still hadn't decided, because he was so scared of meeting him. Then again, it could also simply be great, to meet him and talk to him and-
A knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Naruto yelled back- he knew it couldn't be Sakura or Ino, because they had gone out this afternoon with some friends (Naruto vaguely remembered their names- Temari and TenTen. He didn't like Temari, but he knew that TenTen was a nice girl as she had helped him once with picking up his books after Sakura and Ino had deliberately pushed him on the ground, but that's a different story.), so that only left one person. Une. Naruto shuddered.
"It's Une," a cold voice replied. Naruto cringed at the reply, before he went to his door and unlocking it. His stepmother stood there, her arms crossed. Her dark brown hair was loose and her clothing was casual- a yellow skirt that didn't get past her knees with a red top, which was way too small for her and gave her a big cleavage. Naruto suspected that she was trying to hit on their next-door neighbour, who was a very rich and perverted old man (A/N: Can you guess who that is? –wink-). "So," she said and walked in without a warning. "Ino and Sakura have told me a lot of things over the phone." Naruto swallowed, but he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of making him scared. Though he was. Very.
"I'm sure they have. They always tend to be very talkative," the blonde replied, earning him a glare from his stepmother. Une took one step closer and raised her hand to cup his cheek in an almost loving manner. Naruto braced himself.
"Brat!" she spat at him, before slapping him hard in the face and grabbing him by the arms. She shook him roughly, all the while yelling and screaming things at him. It was normal for Naruto, she had been doing that for a long time now- though she seemed really mad today. "How dare you disobey my daughters?" she started shrieking. "How dare you? After all we've been doing! We took care of you, took you into our house-" Naruto was getting dizzy right about now- he never knew his stepmother could be this strong. She pushed him against the wall, hurting his head. A pain shot through him as she had slapped him on his face again, leaving a red mark on his cheek. "And this is what you do to repay us? Yell at my poor daughters! Make a fool out of them in front of their friends!" Naruto snorted inwardly- Sasuke was hardly their friend, the same went for Neji.
Another five minutes later, Naruto found himself lying on the floor, bruised and beaten. He looked around to see if his door was closed, before sobbing quietly. It had never been this bad.
But he wasn't crying about the pain he felt as he raised his body from the floor- no, it was because of all the things she had said to him about his father, about himself and about his life. Maybe… maybe they're all true.
And for the first time in his life, he truly wanted to escape everything. He had always been a very optimistic person, always looking at the bright side. But now, all the optimism had been beaten and talked out of him, leaving only sadness and loneliness.
He took his cell and walked out the door. He could easily get away- his stepmother had left the house right after she was done with him.
--
"Sasuke-chaaaaaaaan," Itachi started whining, for the tenth time in five minutes.
"No, and if you call me that ever again, I'll make sure you die a very painful that. And, if I can hold myself back, a long one."
"Aw, Sasuke, you're so mean! You know that my car is gone for repairs and-"
"Which was your own fault, because you were making out with Kisame while driving."
"That's not the point," he quickly said, before continuing his whining. "You won't let me drive your car, so I have absolutely no way of getting to the store, unless you drive me."
" No."
"But Sasuke!"
"Walk."
"It's pouring!"
"Take an umbrella with you."
Itachi sighed- this wasn't working. Then again, it never worked, but at least it amused him for a couple of minutes. Now the real operation 'Get-Sasuke-To-Drive-Me-And-Find-Out-Some-Things-He-Would-Never-Tell-Me' would commence.
"Alright then," he said, shrugging. After a couple of seconds of watching Sasuke as he was reading one of the many books in their library, he started to talk again. "I know! I could go out to eat, but who would I take?" he raised his index finger to his chin as if thinking really hard. "Kisame is out of town until tomorrow and I went with all of my friends out for lunch yesterday." He continued to pretend to ponder about it some more- Sasuke didn't seem too interested, but Itachi would change that quickly. "Maybe I could take our little Naru-chan out for dinner! I'm sure he wouldn't mind, besides… we could later go to my house for some… intensive studying." Itachi grinned at the sight of shock in his little brother's eyes and turned on his heel, walking out of the room. "Three, two-"
"I'll drive you." Hm, faster than expected…now for the finishing touch.
"Oh, I don't know," Itachi said, looking as if he was torn between two difficult decisions. "I actually want to go with Naru-chan, he seems like a good fu-"
"Let's go," Sasuke said, interrupting him before he could say anything more. He took his brother's ponytail in his hand and started dragging him out of the house, ignoring the screams of Itachi ('Ouch! Sasuke, I didn't know you liked it rough!') and the looks they got from the neighbours.
--
Naruto was running on the streets, not knowing where he was heading. It was raining, his blonde bangs in his face as the rain had made his messy spikes wet. His clothes were soaked, but he didn't care all that much about it- it actually felt kind of relieving to run through the rain like this.
He didn't really notice it when a car was driving past him and suddenly halting. The door slammed open, revealing someone very familiar, but Naruto's mind didn't process the information of a crimson-eyed boy standing in the rain, asking him what he was doing.
Naruto passed out, only a foot from where Itachi was standing.
--
"Has he woken up yet?"
"No."
The voices. He knew them- was he back in his house?
"What do you think happened?"
"How should I know?"
No, they were deep. They weren't from Sakura, Ino or Une. Was it…?
"Sasuke?" he croaked as he opened one of his eyes. He noticed that it was indeed Sasuke sitting beside his bed and Itachi standing behind his little brother. The bed was Sasuke's, he noticed, as the sheets were dark blue and king-sized. He passed out again, from exhaustion.
"Well… that was short," Itachi finally said, after moments of staring at the blonde boy lying in the bed. Sasuke only nodded in agreement. "I have some work to do, I trust I can leave you with Naru-chan?" he continued in a mocking tone- his little brother only glared at him as he made his way out of the room.
Sasuke took his cell out of his pocket and decided to send Kyuubi another text message- he hadn't received one and was worried. Maybe I did move too fast for him? He shrugged again. It was likely he had acted too soon and had scared Kyuubi off- he wanted to apologise to him.
He had actually wanted to do this earlier, but as his brother started hovering behind him and breathing in his neck that he had to go to the store for dinner supplies, he didn't have much of a chance to actually send one. Now, he was finally alone (with the exception of the unconscious Naruto, but that didn't quite count as company), so he finally had the opportunity.
Kyuubi, I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong? If my last message offended you in any way- just forget it, alright? Please send something back.
He read it over twice, before pressing the 'send' button, with an odd fluttering feeling in his stomach. He hoped Kyuubi would talk to him again.
Not one second later, he heard something beep in the room. Sasuke looked up and saw where the sound came from- Naruto's pants.
After they had taken Naruto to their house, they had stripped him completely, with the exception of his boxers (it still made Sasuke blush as he thought about it), as they were all completely soaked. They had, of course, noticed the bruises and other marks on his body, which were still very fresh. It wasn't a pretty sight.
Anyway, back to the problem at hand- Naruto's pants. Or what was in it. Could it be…? Sasuke's heart was pounding inside his throat as he reached in his pants and took out a very old cell phone. Which was still beeping. Sasuke looked at the screen: 'One message received.' With his heart thumping rapidly, he clicked on 'read' and his eyes widened as he read his own message back. On Naruto's phone. That came from Naruto's pants.
"Naruto," he whispered to himself. "Is Kyuubi?" A slight sparkle of hope was reflected in his eyes as he walked towards the bed carrying Naruto. Somehow, it all fitted- Naruto's family, the problems he has at home… But what if Naruto only found the phone on the floor? A part of him wondered. He quickly shrugged it off- the chance was very slim.
However, he wanted to make sure it wasn't someone else's phone, so he took the phone again and clicked on 'contacts'. He scrolled down and looked at the names and numbers. One of them was Ino, Naruto's stepsister, then came Kiba, Naruto's friend. He went further and saw Hyuuga Neji's name also (Sasuke grumbled in annoyance that the blonde had Hyuuga's number) and after that came Sakura, Naruto's other stepsister. He had seen the name 'Gaara' earlier, but he didn't recognise that name.
It was rather obvious- Naruto knew all these people. Therefore, it was Naruto's phone. How could it be anyone else's?
Sasuke sighed. Should he be relieved or disappointed? He looked at the blonde once more, at his sleeping form and recalled the thoughts he had earlier as he had watched him sleep. He had thought that Naruto was beautiful- his golden hair and the soft, inviting lips that were parted slightly as he breathed quietly. He seemed so at peace. Sasuke remembered thinking that he had wanted to see Naruto like that when he was awake- he wanted Naruto to at ease around him, to feel relaxed and safe. There was just something about the blonde he couldn't place.
Now came another problem for the boy- should he tell Naruto that he was Sharingan?
Sasuke quickly shook his head at the thought. Naruto could deny it, Naruto could hate him and his chances would be ruined. No, he couldn't tell him. Maybe… he could fall for me.
He grinned. Yes, that was perfect! After all, almost every girl in school fell for the boy after just one glance, so why couldn't he let Naruto fall in love with him? Naruto is different though… Sasuke just shrugged- Uchiha's did not hesitate. Sasuke wanted Naruto and he would make sure that Naruto would want him.
After all, he was an Uchiha. And Uchiha's always got what they wanted.
--
Naruto groaned. He was still tired, but something had woken him up. Someone was shaking him roughly and the someone wasn't going away, or so it seemed.
"Sakura-chan, I'm coming," he mumbled. The shaking stopped for a brief second, before continuing. "No, Sakura-chan, I'll make breakfast, just lemme sleep for five minutes," he said again, getting irritated. He was about to slap away the hand that was shaking him, when he heard someone talking to him. And it wasn't Sakura.
"Oi idiot, I'm not Sakura and if you ever dare to insult me like that again, I'll cut off your head," the voice said. It sounded like…
"Sasuke?" he croaked, opening one eye. He kind of felt as if he had just experienced a déja vu (or whatever you call those things), but he quickly put away the thought and concentrated. He was lying in a bed, which was clearly Sasuke's.
"Great observation," the boy said, rolling his eyes at him. "Get dressed, we need to go."
"Wait- what? Go where? And where the hell am I?" Naruto vaguely remembered running through the streets, but after that, his mind went blank. Suddenly, he gasped and pointed an accusing finger at the Uchiha. He just raised an eyebrow. "You kidnapped me! Bastard!" He yelled. Sasuke rolled his eyes for the second time in two minutes, before replying.
"No, you idiot," he simply said. "Now get dressed, we need to go to school."
"At least tell me what happened!" the blonde yelled a little too loud- it actually hurt his own head. Sasuke just sighed and handed him his pants, shirt and socks.
"You were running on the street like the idiot you are and you collapsed in front of my brother. We drove you back to our house and you've been sleeping ever since."
"Oh," the blonde said, rubbing his neck and grinning sheepishly. He pulled on his clothes, managing to keep the blush from his face as he wondered if Sasuke had been the one to undress him. Sasuke watched him from the corner of his eyes, making sure Naruto wouldn't notice him staring at him, and smirked to himself.
Things were going to get really interesting.
--
A/N: Finally an update! Gah, this took me so long to write T.T I apologise. Anyway, Sasuke found out! Sooner than I expected, but njah, I needed to get this thing moving XD
Hope you enjoyed it and I hope you review!