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. |
A/N: *for your viewing pleasure, KK3X will be dressed as the White Rabbit (rawr)* I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!
Ah, I took a little while, I'm sorry. It's not my computer- it's actually being a real trooper lately; but work has been kicking my ass. It hasn't even been a close match either. I am being owned epically. Although, in retrospect, I may have been spoiling you all with the weekly updates! *nod nod*
Man, your response has been phenomenal. I was bracing myself to lose quite a few readers after the NaruNeji début. Maybe I have, but I couldn't tell. I'm so freaking grateful, I'm just going to wiggle my fluffy bunny tail a bit.
You aren't even reading this, are you? You're skipping my sexy author's note to check out the face-off! Well, I never! *hops away in a huff*
Chapter title is taken from SR-71's 'My World'; because if that's not Sasuke's anthem right now (and maybe Neji's too), I don't know what is.
Enjoy!
Well this was awkward.
Neji sat still and waited for some sort of reaction from the apartment's newest visitor. Sasuke only stared, obviously viewing Neji as some type of ridiculous aberration of time and space. Perhaps if he stared at it long enough, the universe would realize how absurd it was being, and quickly move to realign itself and sit once again within acceptable standards. However, Neji remained solid matter and refused to dissipate.
Taking advantage of Sasuke's stunned immobility; Neji casually reached for his jeans which had lain crumpled next to the couch and tugged them on. He couldn't see where his shirt and boxers could have gotten to; but refused to scrounge around looking for them like some type of guilty interloper. He could feel Sasuke's eyes burning into him the entire time, still waiting for the unsettling hallucination to disappear. He finally stood, no longer feeling at a disadvantage by being naked, and walked over to the kitchen entrance. He turned to face Sasuke, who still stood frozen before the front door, and decided to extend the first greeting.
"Sasuke, it's been awhile."
And it talks too. Sasuke could hardly contain his surprise at the astonishing phenomenon. He had been steeling himself for any number of unpleasant things each time he had opened Naruto's front door, looking for him. A naked, blushing girl was at the top of the list; a naked, deadpan Hyuuga Neji was not. He wasn't on the list at all.
Logically, Sasuke knew it shouldn't matter whether or not it was a man or a woman. It shouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference. Only it did, and if the twisting in his gut was any indication, it made a huge bloody difference. Naruto had never gone to another man before, and it had never occurred to Sasuke that he would, or even could be with another man. Naruto had crap taste in women, always drifting to the soft, nurturing doll-types; easily broken and disposed of when Sasuke finally got serious with them. They had pissed him off to no end, but they were never a threat. This, on the other hand, was another matter. Looking at Neji staring back at him, waiting and unflappable, Sasuke couldn't help the sinking feeling that this was a replacement.
"Look, I can see that you're experiencing a lot of 'feelings' right now and I understand and respect that. However, would you mind feeling those feelings somewhere else?"
The cool, condescending tone snapped Sasuke back to the reality of the situation. Despite his best hopes, Neji wasn't about to vaporise and needed to be dealt with, with the most ruthless efficiency possible. Still, Sasuke needed to be careful. Neji was a respected and well-known member of the financial community; and did not have nearly as much to lose as Sasuke did.
"Where's Naruto?"
Neji could see Sasuke jerk awake at his antagonising request. He wasn't very surprised when smooth impassiveness settled over Sasuke's features.
"He's gone out. Who knows when he'll be back?"
Sasuke checked his watch. "More than likely in a few minutes, since he's probably on a ramen-run… I'll just wait."
This arrangement was not going to work for Neji at all. He knew Sasuke was being cautious and taking his time to figure out how best to handle the sensitive matter, but it was time to get the ball rolling.
"It's best if you just leave. He doesn't want to see you, and he's not going to change his mind about that. Perhaps you have some other willing friends to harass for sexual favours."
It was there for a second, the flash of shocked disbelief and anger, before it was smoothed out to blandness once again. If one blinked, one would have missed it; but growing up in the Hyuuga Clan, a lot rode on the ability to accurately read a flash of emotion before it was stifled and hidden; and Neji was a master of it. He watched as Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment in thought before he reopened them, one corner of his mouth hitched into a small smirk.
"Oh, so you know a little of the situation then?"
Neji shifted to lean against the dividing wall. "I know what I need to."
"That's a little annoying to me, but it does make things easier. Yes, I guess the normal thing would be to move on to another partner, but I'm a lot more discriminating than Naruto seems to be." Sasuke fixed Neji with a look as if seeing him for the first time. "So what exactly are you supposed to be?"
"I thought it would be obvious. Naruto and I are lovers, for want of a better term."
Sasuke blinked for a moment before erupting into laughter which grated Neji to his very core. It was grating, simply because it appeared to stem from genuine amusement. Sasuke finally tried to get a hold of himself.
"I'm not trying to be offensive, Neji. I don't want to be rude, but it's just the way you said it; as if you actually believe that. Like it's supposed to mean anything to anyone but you."
Neji's eyes narrowed as Sasuke sighed and began to explain how the universe worked.
"You don't know Naruto, but this is what he does. He collects people the way another person might collect stamps or coins. He always makes a huge fuss over his newest acquisitions too. Eventually though, the novelty ends and they fade back into the masses. You need to rethink this alleged relationship, because there isn't one. You're a rebound- an inadequate, carbon-copy stand-in for me until Naruto and I work things out. You're the equivalent of…" Sasuke paused for a moment, making a show of trying to find the right, diplomatic words. "…Naruto getting up in the middle of night to take leak. It's a convenience and a relief and it probably feels good, but at the end of it, all he wants to do is get it over with and come back to bed."
Neji attempted to keep his temper in check. He saw Sasuke's smirk hitch a little higher and recognised a gleam of satisfaction in the dark eyes. He realized belatedly that he had shown, however briefly, that the barb had hit home. He wasn't the only one who had mastered the art of reading barely-there flashes of emotion. Still, he had no intention of losing this game. He had been preparing for it since the moment he had seen Naruto and Sasuke together on the ship, and recognised that the Uchiha heir was never going to let go of his lover easily. So unlike Sasuke, he had had time to prepare and was perfectly willing to press all his advantages. The timer was now set, and the only question was just who would be pushed to the breaking point first.
"Your concern for my welfare is touching, Sasuke. However, flavour of the moment or not, Naruto actually wants me here, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for you. He's through with you- he doesn't want to talk about you, he doesn't want to think about you. While I do know that the Uchiha Clan are master executioners of the art of self-delusion, has it really never occurred to you that maybe your time in the sun has ended? Perhaps you managed to last far longer than most, but your new toy shine might have finally worn off. You may simply be fading into the masses now, Sasuke."
He noted with grim satisfaction how Sasuke stiffened, a gamut of emotion reflected in the intense gaze, and Neji knew he had hit on a raw nerve. "I'm simply saying that it might be in your best interest to leave now and preserve what dignity you might have left."
All traces of plastic civility left Sasuke's demeanour as he grasped that Neji was as cognizant of his insecurities as he was of Neji's.
"This gets funnier by the minute." He fixed his gaze squarely on the tribal tattoo on Neji's forehead. "If you think I'm going to let one of the Hyuuga Clan's second-class, second-rate members tell me about dignity, you're the one with delusions. I'm here to speak to Naruto, not hold some kind of conference with his latest, half-naked, ephemeral fling. So this 'thing' you have with Naruto is done, and I'm also done talking to you. Get out."
As much as Neji had anticipated Sasuke bringing his heritage into the mix, it still managed to cut right to his core. However, he was not without a few trump cards of his own.
"I haven't been able to take a look at Naruto's lease yet, since we've been busy with…other things. But I'm willing to guess your name is nowhere on it. Your name is nowhere on Naruto either, and believe me, I've checked thoroughly." Neji smiled suggestively. "So you have absolutely no right to order me away from either the man or his home."
Sasuke was clearly nearing the end of his patience, and Neji dropped his arms to the side, relaxing his body as he readied himself for the mini-explosion his next words were going to cause.
"And speaking of second class and second rate, Sasuke; just when is Itachi-san going to come back and take over? That way your clan can have its true son back and you can stop pretending you know how to be a real, properly functioning Uchiha."
There was a second of stunned silence before Sasuke took off towards him like a cannon-blast.
Naruto was never particularly good at reading emotional situations. He was definitely better at it than Sai, and maybe even better than Kiba sometimes; but he was worse off when compared to, say, everyone else. A lot of times, the subtext of a given moment would totally escape him. However, it was impossible to misunderstand the absolute powder keg tension he slammed into as he opened his front door. It was like some kind the stand-off at the O.K. Corral.
Clearly he had missed most of it, but he entered just in time to hear something about Itachi, and then see Sasuke start towards the waiting Neji like a bat out of hell. His free hand shot out instinctively, fist closing around the material of Sasuke's jacket. He yanked him backwards and the force of Sasuke's body against the door slammed it shut. The young man hardly seemed phased, only bouncing off the door, ready to sidestep Naruto and make another go at Neji. Naruto flattened his palm against the struggling Sasuke's chest and shoved him backwards once again.
"SASUKE!"
Naruto's voice was loud and sharp enough to startle Neji, making him jump a little as he was unprepared for that tone from the blond. Sasuke had no such issue, but it was more than enough to pull the Uchiha's full attention to Naruto. Once Sasuke set eyes on the latest addition to the volatile scene, Neji was promptly forgotten.
This development did not sit right with Neji in the slightest. Everything about Naruto and Sasuke being anywhere in proximity to each other put him on edge. The look on Sasuke's face bothered him the most. That expression did not belong on the face of one of the members of the impassive, unfeeling Uchiha Clan. The way Sasuke was staring at Naruto was not unlike some lost puppy that had finally found his way back home; and the expression wasn't being smoothed away as quickly as it should.
Neji stared at the back of Naruto's head, unable to see and discern his expression. He couldn't tell if Naruto was angry, upset, or worst of all, mirroring that same pathetic look currently etched into Sasuke's features. Neji didn't know, and honestly he didn't want to know. What he did know was that he needed Sasuke to leave. He needed Sasuke to leave now.
"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Naruto's voice was low and tense as he continued pressing Sasuke back into the door, even though the latter was no longer struggling.
"I came to see you. You're never here when I show up." Sasuke's hand came up automatically to cover the one pressed against his chest. Naruto moved it away quickly as if burned.
Before either of them could say anything further, Neji shifted, catching Sasuke's peripheral vision and serving a sharp reminder that he was still there. He watched Sasuke's eyes narrow as his rage rushed back. The dark eyes snapped to Naruto's angrily.
"What the fuck is he doing here? What is this? And you told him about us…about me?"
"Naruto didn't tell me anything." Neji interjected his response smoothly, before Naruto could even formulate an answer. "I saw the two of you together on the cancer benefit cruise. For a man as deeply closeted as you, Sasuke, you'd think you'd be a little more discreet."
The look Sasuke sent him promised endless pain and torment; but Neji didn't mind in the least.
"He won't tell anyone, Sasuke." Naruto's quiet statement pulled Sasuke's attention yet again. "He gave his word and I'll vouch for it. I didn't tell him anything that wasn't already obvious either. You don't have to worry about anyone finding out, or about your reputation getting damaged."
Sasuke cursed silently as the softness in Naruto's face vanished and the blue eyes became more remote and guarded. He hadn't been around Naruto for five minutes and he was already fucking things up. Sasuke struggled to regain some of the ground he was rapidly losing.
"I… I don't care about that."
Naruto didn't bother to dignify the blatant lie with a response, and Sasuke swallowed convulsively. Again, he detected the slight movement beyond Naruto, as Neji shifted once more. Sasuke knew Neji wasn't the fidgety sort, and that the movements were calculated ones, made solely to piss him off while affirming Neji's presence.
"Get rid of him." Sasuke ordered, unable to find a more cajoling way of stating his request, despite Naruto's visible disbelief at his audacity. He couldn't help it; it was taking all of his self-control just to keep from going across the room and smashing the smug bastard's face in. "We need to talk, Naruto, and we can't talk with him here."
Naruto hesitated, precious moments slipping by as Neji and Sasuke were held in suspended animation. At length, Naruto shook his head.
"There's nothing to talk about, Sasuke, not anymore. Plus, you have no right telling me to make Neji leave. He's here at my invitation, he has a right to be here and-"
"And I don't?" Sasuke finished Naruto's sentence pre-emptively. He glared at the blond as angry hurt and betrayal marred his usually stoic features. "You can't seriously be choosing him. I'm trying to make things right."
Naruto shook his head again, trying to keep confusing and disruptive thoughts at bay. "Sasuke, you can't just-"
"This is why I haven't seen you these past months? I've been struggling to find a solution to make you happy and you've been cavorting about with this?" Sasuke shot a condescending and dismissive glare in Neji's direction, his growing temper making him oblivious to Naruto's own shortening fuse. "You've scraped the bottom of the barrel before but this time, Naruto, you've-" The hand that smacked into the door right next to Sasuke's ear startled him, bringing his increasingly vitriolic rant to a sudden end.
"That's enough, Sasuke." The voice was low; but the dangerous edge to it was unmistakable. "Where the hell do you get off coming into my home and badmouthing the people I choose to be with? Do you really want to talk about the mistakes I've made, Sasuke? Because I don't mind getting into it."
Neji could only observe as Sasuke went quiet, staring miserably at the man before him, less than an arm's length away. It was like some kind of weird, perverse circus act, with the lion tamer and his dangerous, but well-trained, pet.
"How can you replace me?"
Neji almost didn't hear the question, it was so hushed. Sasuke's query was frank and discomfiting to Neji in its stark sincerity; and even without the visual cues of Naruto's expression, Neji could tell it affected the blond too. Naruto straightened up and looked back at Sasuke, who was standing defiantly with his chin raised, as if daring Naruto to come up with a halfway decent excuse.
"I'm not replacing you, Sasuke, or even trying to. I'm just-" Naruto shrugged ineloquently. "-I'm just moving on."
Naruto didn't look him in the eye as he spoke the last part, and something about the avoidant behaviour bolstered Sasuke's hopes just a little.
"It's not going to work. You know it, I know it, and even he knows it." Sasuke sent a pointed glance in Neji's direction. "It's never going to work because we're the ones who are supposed to be together."
"Sasuke…" The edge of warning was back in Naruto's voice, but Sasuke only shook his head.
"He's not me, Naruto."
"I know that." Naruto responded quietly, and Neji and Sasuke stared at him in surprise. "He's not you; and I think that maybe just what I need."
Sasuke's mouth open and closed for a moment as he stared in hurt disbelief at the soft statement. Neji finally left the room and went into the kitchen; not wanting to wind up feeling like a vulture awaiting the official death of the relationship.
"You don't mean really that." Sasuke's tone came off as gentle chiding before dissolving into an insecure question. "Do you?"
"Sasuke, please don't force me to keep ending this."
Naruto's face and voice were tense and anguished. It was enough to buoy Sasuke just a little more. He reached for Naruto, hands fisting into the material of the blond's jacket, and pulled him closer.
"You don't have to keep ending anything, Naruto. I promise you, we can work this all-"
The shrill sound of Sasuke's cell-phone made him jump a little, as he immediately recognised his father's assigned ringtone. He felt Naruto tense, evidently watching to see what Sasuke would do. The latter clutched Naruto's jacket even tighter, his lips going dry as he fought the knee-jerk reaction to answer his father's call. The phone eventually silenced, and Sasuke could feel sweat prickling the back of his neck as he envisioned his father's impatient frown. Before long, the phone rang again, and Sasuke couldn't bring himself to ignore his father a second time. He tried to tamp down his panic as Naruto sighed his disappointment and pulled out of Sasuke's now one-handed grasp.
He barely got his greeting out before his father started issuing his orders- Uchiha Fugaku's flat voice slicing cleanly through his turbulent thoughts like a cold blade. At the first natural pause, Sasuke attempted to salvage a little of the situation.
"Yes Father, I'll get right on it as soon as possible. Now? Um, can it wait a little, perhaps? I'm kind of in the middle of something…"
No, it couldn't wait, and whatever Sasuke had to do could be done another time. Sasuke licked his dry lips as his father coolly reissued his orders. When Fugaku had said his piece, the call ended, leaving Sasuke in a precarious situation. Naruto, with mask now firmly in place, had crouched down to check on his ramen and regain some composure. He looked up at Sasuke's anxious face.
"Got to go?" It was less a question and more a statement. Sasuke stared down silently, unable to think of a single thing to say. He had vowed he wouldn't be stupid anymore. If he left now, rushing off to fulfil his father's request, he'd be leaving Naruto even more disappointed and alienated than before. That would be the epitome of stupid- something Sasuke couldn't afford as his replacement lurked menacingly in the kitchen.
Still with each passing minute, Sasuke could feel his father's annoyance increase, and it made his heart thud jerkily and his palms slick. Pissing off his father would be the epitome of stupid too. He continued to stare wordlessly into Naruto's uncharacteristically blank face, feeling as if he was being ripped into pieces. Finally, it was Naruto who made the decision for him.
"You should go." Naruto stated matter-of-factly as he stood. "You know how your dad gets when you make him wait."
Sasuke tried to form some kind of response, but was cut off as Naruto shook his head firmly. "It's not going to make a difference now, Sasuke; and it's not worth pissing off your dad for nothing."
Before Sasuke could process just what was happening, he was on the other side of a closed door with the phone starting to vibrate in his hand. He dazedly answered and switched to autopilot as he negotiated contract terms with one of Uchiha Corps' newest clients. He watched the elevator doors close as the client droned on tonelessly, barely audible over the sound of screaming in Sasuke's head.
Inside his apartment, Naruto nearly lost track of the time he stood staring at the door he had just closed. He shook himself and headed into the kitchen, where Neji was waiting, leaning pensively against the partitioning wall.
"I didn't spill the ramen, luckily. I hope the noodles aren't bloated. You hungry?"
Naruto had pumped so much lightness and airiness into his voice that it felt like a balloon about to pop. It was in stark contrast to Naruto's dark and hooded expression. Neji waited for awhile before nodding mutely; deciding to leave the unsaid just that- unsaid. He kept replaying the earlier scenes in his head as he went through the motions of eating his still warm ramen. Evidently, he had some more strategising to do; because he was positive he hadn't seen the last of Uchiha Sasuke.
"Holy crap! Was there blood, was there carnage… was either of them wearing a thong?"
Naruto rolled his eyes as he contemplated hanging up on Kiba. He really needed to rethink telling the man certain things.
"You are getting far too much enjoyment out of this. This is serious. Besides, as a straight guy, you're supposed to only like girl fights."
"Please, professional wrestling is way gayer than anything should be, and I still enjoy that. Hmm, not even some hair-pulling, huh?"
Naruto shifted the phone for a second to stare at it incredulously. "You seem to be missing the whole point!"
He could literally feel Kiba shrug through the phone.
"What point am I missing? Sasuke showed up, almost got into it with Neji and then left when daddy called. It's not exactly an M. Night Shyamalan movie, is it? We both knew Sasuke wasn't going to take the new boyfriend thing well. He's the jealous, possessive type. Hell, we all are. But I haven't heard anything new or surprising happening. Unless you haven't told me the whole story. What's happened, are you thinking seeing Sasuke again, maybe patching things up?"
"No!" Naruto replied a little too quickly. "No, I'm not. Like you said, there's nothing new, and even if there was, I'm with Neji now. It's too late for me and Sasuke."
"Yeah…" Kiba muttered, unsure of just who Naruto was trying to convince. No matter how Kiba explored the possibilities, things weren't going to end well for at least one person. He wasn't a gambler, but listening to Naruto's bravado puffing through the phone, he could only pray that Neji wasn't the lashing out type when he was heartbroken. He had his own skin to consider. "Yeah, I still want to know who'd emerge the winner- the Hyuuga 'bitch-slap' technique or the Uchiha 'frustrate you with your own moves' method."
Kiba relaxed as he heard Naruto snicker.
"It would be kind of awesome to see." Both men grinned as they imagined a cross between a martial arts video game and a Jerry Springer catfight.
"Yeah, it's going to be epic." Neither man noticed that Kiba had inadvertently spoken in the future tense.
Later on after Kiba brought Shikamaru up-to-date on the latest developments, they argued about just who would win in a Sasuke/Neji matchup. Kiba ending up backing Neji, having seen the 'Gentle Fist' in action on numerous occasions. Shikamaru figured Sasuke would eventually get the upper hand, although he figured that it might not really matter in the end.
After all, not all wars were decided on the battlefield.
"Is there something on my face?" Naruto rubbed at his cheeks self-consciously as Neji blinked himself back to the present.
He wasn't really staring at Naruto. He had just been thinking- trying to gauge if what he was planning to do would constitute as moving 'too fast' in a relationship. Neji had no clue how relationships were supposed to go, and he didn't take much comfort in knowing that Naruto didn't really know either. They hadn't been dating even a month yet and those barbs from his confrontation with Sasuke still stuck in his mind, unsettling him. Even if the relationship had been set in ideal conditions, he still worried that his latest thought would still be pushing things a bit far. He didn't want to scare Naruto off with being too intense. He knew that if the roles had been reversed with anyone else but the man sitting across from him, he'd be running screaming for the hills.
"No seriously, what's on my face?"
They sat around a small picnic table in one of Naruto's favourite garden parks. Naruto slurped a milkshake as he propped one leg on Neji's seat. It was so cosy and idyllic- with the trees and flowers around, birds singing, the moments of companionable silence and Naruto's increasingly paranoid expression; Neji knew he wasn't going to find a more perfect place or time to do it. He sighed and decided to bite the bullet. He fished into his pocket until his fingers came in contact with the cold metal. He pulled it out and unceremoniously slid it across the table.
"Here- this is yours."
Naruto took another gulp of his milkshake as he contemplated the silver key. "Ah, your house key?"
Neji gave a stiff nod, watching Naruto carefully as he waited for some type of telling reaction.
"Awesome… I brought a key for you too. I'd have given you one earlier, but all my duplicates are gone, I had to get more made."
Neji blinked as Naruto took a single key out of his and handed it to him. The blond then unzipped his gym bag and proceeded to pull of the biggest collection of keys Neji had ever seen in the possession of a private citizen. Alright, maybe he was overreacting a little. His eyes narrowed as Naruto struggled to get his key onto the bugling set. No, he wasn't overreacting. Those were a lot of fucking keys.
"Please tell me you're moonlighting as a janitor in your spare time."
Naruto blinked at him, all confusion and blue eyes. "Huh?"
"Why, in the name of all that's decent, do you have all those keys?"
Naruto looked down at his key set and grinned sheepishly. "It kind of looks like a lot, doesn't it? I never carry them all at once, it's just because I had a long to-do list and I couldn't bother to stop and figure which key belonged to which person, so I just grabbed them all. It's not that much, really. It looks worse than it is. Kiba has like three keys there for his apartment and the kennels and the clinic. There are keys to Sai's loft and his studio, so I can make sure he doesn't sneak in any of those porn paintings before a showing. Baa-chan and-"
Neji decided to stop Naruto's listing before his hair started to go grey. "You mean to say that for the past week, I've been agonising over whether or not a key exchange was too big a step, and all this time you've been opening half the doors in Konoha?"
Naruto swallowed nervously. Neji was starting to look pissed off and scary. Before he had a chance to save himself, the diatribe continued.
"I give you a key to my home, something I never do, something I never imagined I'd do in this lifetime, and your response is 'Awesome' as you try to do the mathematically impossible and squeeze my key onto your set?"
Neji was actually ranting his way into a standing position, apparently preparing to reach across the narrow space and throttle Naruto. Blue eyes got impossibly wider as Naruto abandoned his task of adding Neji's key to the bulging key chain.
"But it is awesome! I was just putting it there to transfer it to my real set later. You know… the one I actually walk around with everyday? It would only have my own apartment key, and now your key and the key to my gym locker and-and…I'm just going to put away the other keys now" Naruto quickly dumped the set in his bag and zipped up. "See all gone! And it really is awesome that you-"
The vein next to Neji's eye twitched dangerously. "It's not just 'awesome', you giant, warbling canary. It is supposed to be a huge freaking deal! You just took what was supposed to be a defining moment in our relationship and made it a check-off item on your 'to-do' list!"
"Let's start over!"
The odd statement caught Neji off guard and he squinted at Naruto's intense, eager face. He sat slowly and regarded his boyfriend with blatant suspicion and scepticism. "Do what?"
"You're right. It's a huge deal, and I realize it's not easy for you to do something like this."
Neji snorted, unwilling to be easily placated.
"I'm sorry I took it for granted. I really am, Neji. So let's start over." Naruto slid Neji's key back to him, and picked up the one he had tried, unsuccessfully, to gift to Neji. "Let's just do the whole thing again. I'll do it right this time."
Neji stared at both Naruto and the key dubiously, but was too curious to see how this 'do over' would play out. He skidded the key across the table once again. "Here- this is yours."
Naruto stared at the shiny metal with reverent silence. "Really? For me?"
His bottom lip trembled and his eyes went as wide as dinner plates. Neji's lips twitched as Naruto slowly picked up the key with kid-gloves. There was the tiniest hint of a shimmer in the blond's eyes as he stroked the key tenderly against his cheek. "Oh, Neji."
Neji bit down hard in an effort not to laugh. "Just take the goddamn key, you fucking moron."
Naruto grinned widely and nodded, before sliding the key to his apartment over to Neji. "Thank you, Neji. Really… I'm happy you did this."
"Yeah, whatever…" Neji pocketed Naruto's key and tried not to show just how good he was feeling at the end of it all. However, a thought hit him. He immediately pinned Naruto with a hard, sharp look.
"So wait, just how many people have keys to your apartment?"
Naruto smiled nervously. "Well, the thing about that…"
If Sasuke was in the mood to find the humour of his situation, he'd think it was a little funny how he went from being completely ignorant about Neji and Naruto's relationship, to finding them to be the most annoyingly ubiquitous couple in Japan. They seemed to be everywhere, from Ichiraku's to the garden spots to which Naruto used to love dragging him. He could only manage to duck out of the sight whenever he spotted them, and watch from afar like some sort of masochistic stalker. They also invaded his nightmares in full force, Neji now replacing the Naruto's child and phantom wife. Sasuke scoffed as he leaned back in the large, leather chair of his study. He needed to work, but it felt impossible to think about anything else but the fact that Naruto was in someone else's life and in someone else' bed. He wasn't sure what to do anymore. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the cool of the desk. His plans all failed him. The more he tried, the more they seemed to backfire and blow up in his face.
A small part of him wondered if it would be best to just to leave the whole thing alone; that perhaps it would be the unselfish thing to just let Neji be with Naruto since maybe the man could make Naruto happy in ways he couldn't. Everything in Sasuke's being had been repulsed by the idea. Naruto belonged with him, he was sure of it. Besides, he could make Naruto happy again; he just needed to restore the balance somehow.
Who says he isn't happy now?
Sasuke snorted at his own thoughts, pushing away from his desk in irritation as he tried to get a grip on himself. He didn't want to admit how much it shattered him every time he saw them together and how Neji's taunts still dug into his skin. Naruto had said he loved him, more than once. Sasuke didn't hold to such fairytale sentiments. The emotion was fickle and fleeting, and only served to make people weak and blur their common sense. Sasuke would never believe in or submit himself to such a thing. Still, Naruto said he loved him and he knew Naruto believed in the feeling. So if Naruto had really loved him, why wasn't he suffering the way Sasuke was? Shouldn't it be just as bad or even worse?
'…has it ever occurred to you that maybe your time in the sun has ended?' He felt his stomach twist painfully at the possibility.
He quickly pushed all thoughts out of his head, shutting down his errant emotions as he moved purposefully towards his desk. He booted up his laptop and zoned in on the flickering screen, intent on using budget reports and quarterly projections to keep the debilitating thoughts at bay. Soon, he was online and downloading the reports one of his employees had emailed him. He waited impatiently for the virus scanner to complete its task and for the document to open. Suddenly, there was a flicker and his entire screen disappeared for a moment. A moment later, his screen was nothing but solid blue, with tiny white words of warning.
'A problem has been detected…'
Sasuke automatically executed a hard reboot of the ancient laptop, but instead of quickly heading to the start-up screen, the monitor remained black and only continuous, low beeps indicative of some internal problem could be heard.
Something inside him snapped.
Unthinkingly, Sasuke raised the offending piece of outdated technology and slammed it hard onto the unforgiving cherry wood desk. He picked it up again, and started slamming it repeatedly into the table, hearing and feeling the metal and plastic crack and splinter in his hands.
"Fucking piece of shit!"
He didn't even realize he had been yelling and swearing the whole time, finally sailing the battered laptop across the room and watching it crash into the door of his study. He stood panting, the wild exertion taking most of the sudden rage out of him. He braced tiredly on his desk, still breathing hard as control and sanity slowly returned. He finally straightened up and looked over at the broken laptop lying crumpled at the foot of the door.
"Oh no…" He quickly skirted the desk and headed over the irreparable mess, keys with stark kana scattered all over the dark carpet. "Oh no, no…"
He picked up the precious thing, trying to find if there was any hope of restoration. The screen was badly splintered and the body cracked to pieces. He spent a few futile minutes trying desperately to fit some of the keys back into their slots.
"Damn it!" He finally gave up and threw down the piece of broken machinery, softly swearing as he lay back on the carpet as another little bit of his world fell apart. "Damn it."
He lay there for awhile, trying to find a reason to get back up. His mind floated back to the reports he had tried to download and was suddenly determined to get them. He ventured out of the study and into his bedroom where Sakura's ridiculous pink laptop sat charging on the bed. It was better than nothing, he guessed. He'd have to buy a PC for the condo tomorrow, and another laptop…maybe. Sakura was over at Ino's again, much to his relief, and he couldn't see how she could mind him using her machine to do some work. He sat on the bed and started it up.
Despite the painfully girly exterior, the laptop was sleek and fast, putting Sasuke's now busted machine to shame. He was daunted however by the password protected login. On a whim, he typed in his own name 'Sasuke', and was pleasantly surprised when the computer buzzed angrily. He was about to shut down and leave it alone, when he decided to try one more time: 'Sasuke-kun'. He rolled his eyes as the laptop chirped and he was awarded with the desktop, along with a huge background of their official wedding picture. The wireless internet service was quickly detected and Sakura's messenger signed in automatically. He was about to close it out and head into his own email, but reconsidered and opened his wife's account instead- one distraction being as good as another at this point.
Nothing in the inbox either surprised or intrigued him, and her folders were boring and innocuous at best. He did raise an eyebrow at the 'negotiations' folder and idly clicked it, only to be surprised to see his father's email address all over it. He stared for a moment, stupefied, and quickly deduced from the dates that Sakura and his father had been exchanging emails frequently in the months leading up to the wedding. Shocked and confused, Sasuke opened the first message.
Sakura staggered into the house, laden with groceries and supplies to find Sasuke apparently waiting for her in the dining area.
"Oh Sasuke, you're home. How are you feeling today? I was thinking I'd make us a really nice dinner and-" Sakura trailed off, feeling the atmosphere in the room turn dark and threatening. She put down the bags, disconcerted, and turned to Sasuke who stood staring at her, clutching a bunch of papers in his hand. She swallowed apprehensively. Something was not right.
"Sasuke, is everything okay?"
Sasuke glanced down briefly at the freshly printed pages in his hand, before fixing Sakura with a stare that had her quaking nervously.
"Sakura, we need to talk."
TBC
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