Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Torrid	By : KageKitsuneXXX Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 4665 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
A/N: My computer hangs on for dear life and I get another chapter in! The response to the last chapter was so overwhelming, I would cry great salty tears of melodrama if i was that type of girl. Keep doing it! I love you all.
The chapter title and the influence for Naruto's speech are taken from the Nina Gordon song 'Don't they know (it's the end of the world)?' A song that broke my heart even before I knew what the heck she was singing about. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Naruto was not the least bit startled by the sound of his door crashing open. A moment later Kiba appeared and trotted past him, laden with grocery bags, Akamaru right behind him. The giant dog came over to Naruto and rested his head on the man's knee, staring up at him sympathetically. Naruto smiled at the canine concern and scratched behind the dog's ears.
"I bought food," Kiba yelled from the kitchen. "You hungry?"
"Not really."
"Fuck yes, you're hungry. You have any idea how many people I had to drop-kick to get these packages of limited release ramen? You're hungry."
While the water boiled, Kiba came and dumped bags of chips and candy onto the table before Naruto. "What are we watching?"
"'My Best Friend's Wedding'. Do you think Julia Roberts and her giant lips ever found real happiness after that?"
"Yeah, that's not healthy." Kiba picked up the remote and flicked off the movie. "No worries, though. I came prepared."
He sat next to Naruto and started rifling through his backpack. He quickly produced a stack of DVDs. "I brought 'The Ring', 'The Grudge', 'The Exorcist' and a couple of those 'Omen' movies!"
Naruto stared at his friend incredulously, momentarily speechless with horror. "That's your big plan? You're trying to terrify the heartbreak out of me?"
Kiba blinked, nonplussed. "What, too scary?"
Akamaru rolled his eyes, saying as clearly as a dog could 'I tried to tell him, he just wouldn't listen.'
"No problem- I also bought all the 'Final Destination' movies they've released so far. What's better than watching dumb people getting killed in hilariously over-the-top ways?"
He had a point there. "Fine, pop in the first one."
As the carnage on his television ensued, Naruto gave a sideways glance at his friend and then looked at the dog that was still resting comfortingly on his knee, cutting off his circulation.
"You know, I'm okay. I don't need a babysitter…"
"Oh screw you! You think I have time or patience to sit here babysitting? Get over yourself, I came here to pig out and watch movies!"
"Oh…" Naruto responded, quite chastened. "I was just saying, in case."
After a few more minutes of body parts flying across the screen, Naruto heard Kiba mumbling.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry things didn't work out. I was really hoping you and Sasuke would make it… honestly."
"Yeah, thanks." Naruto replied softly, "Me too."
Kiba swirled his ramen for awhile, and awkward silence descending over the room.
"You want me to go kick his ass?"
Naruto cracked a smile. The images that formed in his head were just a little bit awesome. "Nah, I'm good."
"Tell me if you change your mind."
Naruto finally got Kiba to leave that night after giving endless reassurances that he was okay. He collapsed into bed soon after that, feeling tired and drained. The next morning, he awoke fully intending to get on with his life. Only he found that his body refused to move. His limbs were leaden and he had never felt this exhausted in this entire life. His mind, however, rebelled against the inaction.
"This is ridiculous. Get out of bed and go seize the day. Carpe diem!"
But his physical side refused to cooperate, and soon the false bravado of his psyche followed suit. He groped blindly for his stereo's remote to turn on the morning news, hoping it would give him a little inspiration to rise, even if he couldn't shine just yet. Instead, he clicked on the radio only to hear Sinead O'Connor moaning about how nothing compared to some asshole who left her; even as she acknowledged that the person was kind of a difficult prick to live with, and that she was probably better off. Naruto abruptly turned off the stereo.
"Damn you, Sinead O'Connor. Damn you to hell…" Naruto rolled over and buried his face in the pillow. The rationale was that he did have a lot of sleep to catch up, but he knew that the truth was it was simply just too hard right now. At least there was always tomorrow.
Maybe then, it would be easier.
"I love you, Naruto. I always have and I always will."
Naruto looked up at Sasuke, feeling happier than he ever thought possible. "Really, you mean that?"
"Oh course I mean it. I don't know why it took me so long to realize, or why I was so afraid to admit it… but I love you, Naruto."
Naruto smiled at the man straddling him, scarcely believing his good fortune. This was everything of which he had ever dreamed. Only, something was a little…off.
"Sasuke, are you okay?"
"Never better. Why?"
"Nothing, it's just that you seemed to have, um, gained a little weight." To be more precise, the man appeared to have stacked on a few hundred pounds. It felt as if an elephant was sitting on his chest.
Sasuke sniffed, obviously a little offended by the sensitive question. "Maybe a little. That's not a problem is it?"
Naruto hastened to soothe ruffled feathers. "No of course not, it's fine, it's great. You know nothing could ever change the way I feel about you."
He reached up to stroke Sasuke's cheek and surprised at the mass of hair he found there. Naruto suddenly realized that the love of his life now looked like a cross between Paul Bunyan and a grizzly bear. He decided it was best not to question this- Sasuke could be very touchy about his personal grooming. It did appear that he was forgiven for his earlier faux pas, since Sasuke leaned forward and gave him a long, wet lick up the side of his face. The action was repeated with gusto.
It was then Naruto also realized that Sasuke really, really needed a breath mint.
"Oh gross, Akamaru!" Naruto sputtered as he tried to get the dog off him. Akamaru responded with a yip and jumped down to the floor with a thud. His departure revealed a glaring Kiba, standing over him with arms folded.
"What the hell is this?"
"What?"
"Have you been lying there for the past two days?"
"Technically, it hasn't been two days. I went to bed late the day before yesterday, because you wouldn't leave and it's only-" Naruto checked his clock. "-two p.m. now… Okay, I didn't realize it was so late; but it still hasn't been two days. Not technically…"
"I can't believe this! You said you were okay, you said you didn't need babysitting! Have you moved? Have you even eaten?"
Naruto was about to defend himself when his traitorous stomach growled loudly, clearly appealing to Kiba for salvation. Naruto decided it was best not to speak lest he incriminate himself.
"Ugh, I know for a fact you haven't bathed." Kiba continued, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "You're totally unbelievable. Get a hold of yourself, stop wallowing and get out of bed!"
Naruto sighed deeply and rolled over unto his side. "I will… eventually."
"Unbelievable. Akamaru, emergency manoeuvres."
Akamaru promptly bit down on a pyjama pant leg and started hauling, while his master started shoving from the other side.
"What the hell are you- hey, quit it! Will you STOP?!"
There was a momentary cessation of action and Naruto tried to restore some semblance of peace to his home.
"Look, I know I said I'm fine, and I am, to an extent. But you have to admit, this is kind of a rough time. I just ended a relationship with the person I believe is my soul mate. We both know that it's a sad, sad situation, and I'm a sad, sad man."
"You got that right."
"Oh, lay off! It hasn't even been a week yet. I'll feel better when I feel better. I just need a little time, so just give me a break and-and" Naruto groped for the right words. "-and let me wallow!"
With that, Naruto folded his arms and glared defiantly up at his now silent friend. After a short while, Kiba sighed.
"You're right, you're right. It's a tough situation, and maybe you do need a little time. I understand…"
"Really, you do?"
"No. Get your hygiene-challenged ass out of bed!"
On his master's cue, Akamaru resumed hauling Naruto off the bed while Kiba landed some well-placed kicks to the ribs.
"Ow! Fine, ouch, I'm going! Will you stop with the kicking?!"
This is how Naruto found himself in the shower, warm water streaming over him, while Kiba and his dog sat outside the shower door. Soon, Kiba was tapping on the glass.
"You okay in there? You need shampoo? I've got shampoo."
"You know what I'd like, Kiba? I would like you to take that bottle of shampoo and shove it up your-"
A more sensitive soul would have been horrified at the vitriol been thrown at them. Despite being thought up on the sour of the moment, Naruto's curses were thorough and all encompassing. They touched on almost every aspect of Kiba's life from the professional to the romantic. Disparaging remarks were made his mental health, his manners and the unfortunate destinies of his offspring. Not even Akamaru emerged unscathed. A more sensitive soul would have huddled in a corner in terror and cried. Kiba was not, as a rule, a sensitive soul.
"So, no shampoo then?"
"Bite me!"
Kiba shot a wide grin at Akamaru. "I think he's going to be just fine."
Balking at the prospect of being mauled by an oversized dog, Naruto got out of bed without much hesitation the next morning. Surprisingly, Kiba wasn't around, but he resisted the nearly overwhelming urge to climb back into bed and hide under the covers. Instead, sleepy and feeling somewhat battered, he headed into the kitchen for breakfast. He was halfway through his scrambled eggs and toast before he realized he'd been staring at Shikamaru for the past fifteen minutes. This also appeared to explain from where the hitherto magical eggs and toast had actually come.
"Man, you really are out of it."
"Shikamaru, when did you get here?"
Nara Shikamaru snorted and took a sip of his tea, assessing the bleary-eyed and dishevelled man sitting across the table from him.
"About an hour ago. Kiba called me last night and told me you were going through a pretty nasty breakup, and that you were depressed and half-mad with grief."
Naruto rolled his eyes. All his friends were turning out to be closeted drama queens.
"I told him I'd take over today, since I had a day off. Besides, if he keeps skipping out on his duties at the kennel, his sister will hunt him down and inflict from grievous bodily injury. Also, I figured you need a break from his special brand of tough love."
Shikamaru had a gift for understatement. Naruto simply nodded and turned his attention back to his breakfast.
"So you and Sasuke finally hit the skids, huh?"
Naruto nearly choked on a piece of toast. "You knew? Did Kiba tell you?"
"About you and Sasuke? I knew about you and Sasuke before you and Sasuke knew about you and Sasuke."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I figured it out when we were about fifteen. All the other guys would be watching Hinata jog around the field, Sasuke would be watching you. After awhile, I figured there had to be more than just rivalry to it. I'm curious though, just how did Kiba find out?"
"He barged in on us in college. You'd think after that, he'd learn to knock."
Silence reigned as Shikamaru waited for a moment to see if Naruto would open the dialogue, still not sure if Naruto was in the mindset to vent. When they were children, it used to surprise Shikamaru that he was willing to go out of his way to engage Naruto, but he soon discovered there was something about the man that made you want to talk to him; especially now, when the man was in such a bad place. He sighed as he watched Naruto shove his leftover eggs around his plate, remaining quiet.
"I brought my Shogi set- do you want to play?"
It was always easier for Shikamaru to open up while playing and he was hoping it would do the trick for Naruto. In any event, it would be a good match. The blond turned out to be a surprisingly good opponent. He had yet to beat Shikamaru, but he'd come close of several occasions, countering the opponent's highly advanced, calculated forward planning, by simply playing recklessly throughout before coming up with some genius, spur-of-the-moment strategies. It never ceased to amaze the Shogi master.
With the game laid out before them, Shikamaru made his first move.
"So, you want to talk about it?"
Naruto shrugged his shoulders, eyeing the game with only mild interest. "What's to tell? We screwed around, he got married and now it's over. It wasn't even a real relationship anyway. It was supposed to be casual, no mess."
"But it didn't turn out that way?"
"What can I say? Sasuke stuck to the rules, I didn't."
Shikamaru had nothing to say to that. They played in silence for awhile, and it was Naruto who finally spoke again, appearing to muse out loud.
"You know, everyone thinks the end of the world is going to be this huge, fiery, blockbuster type of event. I think it happens one person at a time. You wake up one day, and boom, it's the end of the world. Only no one else realizes, because it's just not their time yet."
Shikamaru chewed his lower lip thoughtfully. "Naruto, did you just compare your breakup to a small, localized apocalypse?"
Naruto blinked, thought over the question for awhile and gave a small, sheepish smile. "What, too over the top?"
"No, no, not at all! I would love it if when I broke up with someone, they had visions of the four horsemen coming to get them."
In spite of himself, Naruto burst out laughing. "Shut up!"
"I mean you may not angst a lot, but when you do, boy you angst hard!"
"Give me a break!" Naruto defended, still laughing. "I think I'm allowed to be a little melodramatic."
They both snickered, the laughter finally trailing off as Naruto sobered up.
"It's been kind of a bad year, Shikamaru."
"Yeah, I know." He replied quietly. "It'll get better."
Shikamaru stared at the game set, wanting to offer some sort of solace to his friend. "I believe that some loves are for a season. They come in, change your life, put you in a different place from where you were before, maybe some place you needed to be. Then they end, because they weren't meant to last forever."
"You think Sasuke and I were just a season?"
"I don't know, maybe, maybe not. I just think that if that love was meant to only last for awhile, it might get easier to move on. Then again, it could be one of those everlasting love types. It that case, even though you've stepped back, it's the type of love that always will always manage to work itself out."
Naruto gave a lopsided smile. "Shikamaru, you're kind of a romantic, aren't you?"
"Shut up and pay attention." Shikamaru muttered, reddening slightly as Naruto grinned wider. "I'm taking your knight."
"What's he doing now?"
"The same thing he's been doing all week, Shikamaru- he's moping. He usually mopes in the living room, but sometimes, for a change of pace, he'll go mope in the kitchen. I've never seen him like this. Do you think there's something we should do? He's like a puppy that's lost his master. I know, because Akamaru was the same way when I just started dating Hinata."
Shikamaru sighed and checked his watch. He needed to get back into the boardroom soon. "Just don't push him too hard. I know you want to fix him, but this is going to happen at his pace. Besides, this is just stage one of the process. You might miss this when stage two starts."
"Stage two? What's stage two?
'Stage two' began with four of the most innocuous words ever to be used in a given language.
"I need to clean."
Kiba blinked at the odd statement. "Um, okay…"
Naruto stood framed in the doorway of his bedroom, a grim look of determination on his face as he surveyed his home.
"Do you need any help?"
Kiba's question was completely ignored. Instead, the man watched dumbstruck as Naruto attacked his living space with unmatched fervour. Nothing was left untouched. In what appeared to be mere minutes, the kitchen was transformed from being merely clean, to surgical theatre immaculacy. Kiba and Akamaru stared wide-eyed as Naruto zipped from one end of the apartment to the other, cleaning, scrubbing and rearranging everything in sight. Odds and ends deemed superfluous were dumped into the trash or storage boxes. The living room was manically feng shui'd even as the guests sat immobilized on the couch, getting tossed about. Even the plants got whipped into shape and there was a terrifying moment when Kiba got fluffed with the couch cushions. For his grand finale, Naruto kicked in the bathroom door- commando style and entered. For the next half hour, all that could be heard was the sounds of running water, intense scrubbing and Naruto swearing indecipherably.
When he finally re-emerged from the bathroom, Naruto surveyed his home, clearly looking for something else to attack under the guise of sanitation. He found nothing, however, having exhausted everything in the apartment. Everything that is, except a pair of stunned guests. Naruto's gaze fell on them with a thud, and both man and dog swallowed nervously.
"When was the last time Akamaru had a bath?"
"Uh, um, a couple of days ago, I think? He's fine though, I-"
"He needs a bath." Naruto spoke with an air of authority and finality that brooked no argument. Soon, Akamaru was neck deep in suds, being cleaned within an inch of his life. He was then dried and coiffed and was finally able to exit the bathroom, tossing his head and swaggering with all the confidence of an international supermodel. Of course, Naruto then deemed the bathroom dirty again, and attacked it with renewed gusto.
"Kiba…"
"I had a bath this morning, I swear!" Kiba cut in quickly, clearly panicked at the prospect of being hosed down. Naruto simply rolled his eyes at the idiocy.
"I was just going to say it's close to dinner time. What do you want to eat?"
"Oh, look why don't you relax for a bit? I'll make something." It took a little convincing, but Naruto left the food preparation to his friend. Only he didn't relax. He had to keep moving, having all this excess energy he needed to burn off. Unable to think of anything else on the spur of the moment, he went into the living room and started doing push-ups.
It became apparent to Kiba that, eventually, Naruto was going to get tired of shoving the ground away from him, and soon, he was going to give in to his true desire and start hitting things. It also occurred to Kiba that, given his proximity, he would be the most obvious and convenient target unless he provided a ready alternative. Which was why the following day, he presented Naruto with his standing punching bag.
"What's this for?" Naruto asked with suspicion as Kiba shoved the piece of equipment into the designated work-out area.
"No reason, just figured maybe you might want to hit something. Something that preferably wasn't yours truly."
Naruto fell into the suggestion with an enthusiasm which was positively uncanny. He went after that heavy punching bag as if it was the bane of his very existence. Kiba could only watch in alarm as the blond, quite literally, beat the stuffing out of his brand new punching bag. Without even being conscious of it, both he and Akamaru surreptitiously selected the furthest, and safest, corner of the apartment, and sat huddled in it, watching in fear and awe as Naruto punished the piece of equipment.
"How long is stage two going to last?" Kiba whispered into his cell-phone as Naruto executed a devastating cross-kick to the suffering bag.
"Heh, missing 'stage one' already, huh? Who knows? Stage two definitely seems more fitted to Naruto's personality, so he might be there for awhile. It's better than having him lethargic and depressed, feeling like the world's going to end, isn't it? Let's hope nothing happens to send him crashing back down to that level."
Shikamaru certainly had a point there, though at the same time, he wasn't the one witnessing the decimation of an innocent punching bag.
"I know, I know, but you should see him! He's like a crazy person?"
"I'm like a what?"
At the sound of the sharp question from the kitchen, Kiba hurriedly slammed the phone shut and shook his head frantically as Naruto eyed him with deep suspicion. Akamaru whimpered and immediately assumed the submissive stance. Naruto rolled his eyes, decided to ignore them and went back to his kickboxing routine.
It took almost the entire day, but eventually Naruto lay on the floor, panting heavily. A moment later he was asleep, having exhausted himself from the hurricane- force activity. Kiba and Akamaru finally found their courage and crept over to him. They poked the sleeping body gingerly; half-afraid Naruto would awaken abruptly and start waling on them.
"Sometimes I don't think this guy's human." Kiba huffed as he dumped an unconscious Naruto onto his bed. "I wonder if I'd be this bad off if Hinata and I broke up."
Akamaru whined as they exited the room, indicating he expected Kiba to be in a far, far worse condition. Kiba sniffed at the implication.
"Well, I'm an Inuzuka! We're a passionate people and we feel things deeply!" Before Kiba could finish his sentence, Akamaru began growling. The dog continued snarling as he edged towards the front door. Kiba sighed as he observed the alert. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
Sasuke wasn't the least bit surprised to find Kiba outside Naruto's apartment, lounging casually against the closed door.
"Sasuke, fancy meeting you here."
He was not in the mood to tolerate Kiba today, nor any of the knights of Naruto's round table. "Where's Naruto?"
"Naruto's not in right now, but you leave a message after the beep, I'm sure he'll get back to you. Beeeeeep."
Sasuke took a breath and counted to ten. He was running on an extremely short fuse. "I know he's here."
"Oh, Uchihas are psychic now? Is there no end to your clan's embarrassment of riches? I said he's not here. You just missed him actually- said something about going to hell. If you hurry, you can just catch him."
Sasuke was through entertaining this idiocy. "Move."
Kiba raised an eyebrow and gave an incredulous laugh. "Yeah, you might want to rethink your little strategy. The 'I'm a big, bad Uchiha' thing doesn't work so well around here."
Kiba watched as Sasuke assessed him, clearly trying to determine the best way to remove his obstacle with the minimum amount of effort and fuss. Kiba felt it was a little unfortunate that he completed his tenure at the Academy without getting into an altercation with Sasuke. He had always wanted to, but a situation never arose. Still, there was no time like the present. He had been grudgingly respectful of Sasuke's skills back then, and he knew that the man had kept honing them since. Sasuke could still intimidate the crap out of most people without even trying; luckily, Kiba wasn't one of those people. He loudly and deliberately cracked his knuckles.
"You see, this is one of the things I could never stand about you, Sasuke. You don't just act, you have to think everything into the ground. Now me and Naruto, we just go with our gut and take the shot. Granted, I know it's not always the best strategy for a given situation, but it hasn't let us down yet." Kiba stepped forward, getting into Sasuke's personal space. "Just take the shot, Sasuke. You know you want to. I'm giving you a free hit here, how can you pass that up?"
Sasuke stared back unblinkingly, obviously tempted by the offer. Yet, he remained unmoved, trying to resist being goaded into acting detrimentally. Kiba rolled his eyes in frustration.
"Look, I need you to make the first move, okay? That way, I'll have a rock-solid reason for knocking you the fuck into next week."
That would have done it. Kiba saw the look he had been waiting for flash in Sasuke's eyes and could almost feel the man's energy shift from defence to offence. At that moment, Kiba would have given worlds to know just what was driving Sasuke. Was it merely annoyance at being openly defied, or a real desperation to see Naruto? Kiba wondered if he could manage to find out. Unfortunately, Akamaru choose that moment to start growling once again behind the closed door, alerting Sasuke to his presence. Getting into it with Kiba was one thing, engaging a nearly three hundred pound, virtually-rabid dog was another. Sasuke backed off, the brief look of bitter disappointment and defeat that crossed his features, caught Kiba momentarily off-guard.
"Tell him I came to see him."
"Um, yeah sure." Kiba responded awkwardly, not quite sure about what just happened. He scratched his cheek, watching uncertainly as Sasuke turned heel and walked away- stoic as ever.
When he re-entered the apartment, Naruto was standing in the living room, Akamaru blocking his path to the front door. The dog was growling at the blond, warning him that there was no getting past him.
"You trained him to attack me if I tried to talk to Sasuke?" Naruto asked quietly, watching as Kiba told the large dog to back down.
Kiba grinned sheepishly, still feeling a little off-kilter by his earlier interaction, and immediately recognising the same sad, defeat in Naruto that he had just witnessed a few moments before in Sasuke.
"Not 'attack'; Akamaru wouldn't do that to you. He would just knock you down and sit on you." Kiba muttered uncertainly, not understanding at all why he suddenly felt so guilty, when he hadn't done anything wrong. Akamaru trotted up to Naruto and nuzzled him, licking the man's fingers in apology for the drastic action he had taken.
"What did he say?" Naruto asked casually, trying to sound as if the answer didn't matter, when everyone in the room knew that it did.
Kiba shrugged inelegantly. "Nothing new, Naruto. Nothing new… I'm sorry."
Naruto simply nodded and turned away, heading into his bedroom and quietly closing the door behind him. Kiba sighed and slumped despondently, before patting his canine companion.
"Looks like we're back to stage one."
TBC
A/N: Hope you enjoyed. I crave your feedback!
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Torrid