Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Espionage ❯ Is Wanting Love So Wrong ( Chapter 15 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: LadyKurama 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 02.12.2010 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.9K | Visits: 483 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 02.12.2010 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.9K | Visits: 483 | Status: Work In Progress
I know, I know. I’m a horrible person who doesn’t know how to update in a timely fashion. Honestly, I try, but I just get so stuck sometimes. It’s like I would the main idea I’m trying to write, but then I can’t figure out the dialogue or the actions. You’ll have to forgive me. I know where I’m going with this story; it just takes me some time to figure out how I’m getting there. Thank you all for still being faithful readers despite my crappy habit of taking forever.
Summary: Sasuke is a spy for Shinobi Inc. and is sent to guard the 1 hyperactive blond of Konoha High School, Naruto Uzumaki. He finds out later that Naruto has two personalities and both are driving him crazy, but for two different reasons.
Espionage
Chapter 14: Is Wanting Love So Wrong?
Sasuke glanced around the basement. He saw all of his fellow teenage konoha shinobi lounging around in chairs or standing. Sasuke couldn’t help, but wonder what this was about. Earlier that day, he had been informed to return home immediately for an emergency meeting amongst konoha Shinobi.
He stood right next to Neji. He had tried to ask his partner if he knew the reason why they were all here, however the long hair brunette barely paid attention and look as if he were deep in thought. ’What’s wrong with him?’
The others seem to know even less. There were speculations of what could cause an emergency meeting, but no one had affirmative answers.
“Where are the others anyway?” Ten-Ten asked, moving closer to her silent boyfriend.
Before anyone could respond, the basement door opened, following by sounds of footsteps thumping down the stairs. Jiraiya appeared first, followed by Tsunade, Kakashi and surprisingly coming in last, Iruka.
The school teacher waved at the now gaping students, a small blush on his face.
“I-Iruka-sensei you’re a S-Shinobi?” Hinata asked with her usual stutter.
“I’m only a scout, but yes, I’m a Shinobi.”
Before anymore questions could be asked, Tsunade cleared her throat. “You ask more questions about him later.” Her face grew serious. “Right now, we have a serious matter to talk about.”
The teenagers looked at each other. They noticed the mood change amongst the adults in the room to dark and morbid; it must be something serious.
“What’s the problem?” Shikamaru asked, for once not looking as if he were about to fall asleep.
“We received a message earlier, stating that our Headquarters had been invaded.” Tsunade told them.
The room instantly grew more silent than what Sasuke remembered it being. And for good reason. His facial expression was controlled to mild shock; however, his mind was bursting with questions and disbelief. Shinobi headquarters were practically impossible to raid.
“How?” Was all Ten-ten could muster. The other young Shinobi was equally shaken up, each one looking as if they had countless of questions to ask.
“It was Orochimaru. He was one of the top Shinobi that Konoha had and basically knew the headquarters from top to bottom. I suspect he was the leader of the invasion. Why he did it, we don’t know.”
“I don’t know this Orochimaru guy, but I’m sure he did it in order to shake us up; warn us that this isn’t the end. I assume that there wasn’t anything stolen from headquarters?”
Tsunade nodded her head. She had thought the same thing Shikamaru suggested. It sounded like something Orochimaru would do.
“So what is the Hokage plan on doing? Is he sending us back to headquarters?” asked Neji.
The adults looked at each other in hesitance. It wasn’t until Jiraiya nodded at Tsunade did she inform the teenagers that the Hokage was dead.
Gasps and shouts of outrage and disbelief echoed the basement walls. This all had to be a dream, Sasuke thought. Not only had Konoha HQ been infiltrated, but now the Hokage was killed as well? The thought only sunk in worse when he saw the sad and somber looks on the elder spies.
Tsunade order the group to calm down and shut up. Clearing her throat, she began to speak again. “The elders are having an emergency meeting, to find out who will be the next Hokage. Jiraiya and I, and a few other Shinobi based here will be leaving tomorrow to attend. This means that there will be less people to guard Naruto. I have no doubt this was all a distraction from Orochimaru in order to lighten up security around Naruto. So, we need every single one of you to be on your guard and on full watch while we’re gone.”
Remembering their duties, the group nodded in affirmative. “Good. While I’m away, Kakashi is in charge. Even I’m not sure we’re we’ll be going, so you won’t be able to contact me if something were to happen.” She looked around and everyone in the basement. “Everyone, please be careful. These are dangerous enemies we’re dealing with.” Everyone nodded and silently bided her and Jiraiya farewell as they left the house. As they left, Sasuke could help but have a bad feeling of what was to come.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Next day at school, there was an air of morbidity amongst a majority of the group of friends during lunch. Naruto looked around at his friends then to kiba, as if to ask what happened. Kiba only shrugged his shoulders, just as baffled as the blond.
“Hey, you guys, what up with all of you? Did something happen?”
Naruto stiffen as all of the sadden and serious expressions looked up at him. There was a pause and the konoha spies glanced at each other. How were they to explain what had happened?
Luckily, Neji was a quick thinker. “We’ve found out yesterday that one of our teachers from Japan has passed away. You could say he was very close to us.” The other nodded in agreement.
“Oh.” Naruto said solemnly. “I’m sorry for your loss. Will you guys be heading back home for a funeral?”
They told him they wouldn’t. The funeral was taking place in a day or two and as much as they wanted to go to see their employer one last time, it was now more important to make sure that Naruto was safe and out of Akatsuki’s hands.
The mood of the group did not lighten up throughout the entire lunch. The uncomfortable silence lingered on even after both Naruto and Kiba tried to lighten the gloomy mood. Finally, the two gave up and watched as their friends mourned.
After lunch, Sakura appeared and greeted the group. Naruto smiled and gave her a peck on the cheeks. Sasuke noticed the pink hair girl wince and move slightly away, but the blond didn’t seem to notice. Although confused about Sakura’s reaction, the Uchiha said nothing and walked away from the group, missing Sakura’s smile deflate a little.
“What’s wrong with Sasuke?” she asked.
“Someone they knew back home passed away. They all’ve been like this since school started.” Naruto whispered to her. The others were too busy clearing their table to notice the conversation between the couple.
“That’s horrible.” She stated, the pity she felt for the foreign students obvious.
“Anyway, why are you here, Sakura? I told you already had lunch?”
She flashed a stack of papers at him. “I’m running an errand for my teacher. I should be going then. I’ll see you later.” She didn’t wait for a reply and walked off in the general direction of Sasuke. Naruto frowned at the odd behavior of his girlfriend, but decided it was nothing. Probably just one of usual mood swings.
“Hey, Naruto?” the blond looked up at Kiba. “Have you’ve seen Sai around? Not that I care, but it’s been a couple days since he’s been to school.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too. He usually doesn’t miss so much school. Perhaps he’s sick. I’ll call him later to tell him how much you miss him.” The blond dodged the punch that was aimed towards him and walked away, laughing.
The crowd of students quickly filled up the halls, all making their way to their destination. Naruto didn’t feel like braving the crowd and took the longer, less crowded way to class. The hall he took was quiet; barely anyone use this route as it was out of the way of the main part of the school where all of the classrooms were.
Naruto decided that now would be a good time to call Sai. He looked around and found no teachers around, so he pulled out his phone and called his senior friend.
The phone rang three times before the other line pick up. “Hello?”
“Hey, Sai.”
“…Naruto? Why are you calling? Is something up?” Naruto noticed, Sai sounded tired, as if he hadn’t sleep well in a couple days.
“I wanted to know where you’ve been. We haven’t seen you at school. Kiba says he misses you.” To Naruto’s pleasure, Sai let out a soft chuckle over the phone.
“I’m sure he did.”
“But really, we’ve you been?”
“I’ve been…busy. I have a bit of an emergency to deal with. Probably won’t be back for a while.” Sai did not explain more than that, not satisfying Naruto’s curiosity at all. But the blond did not press on. It was obviously a very private matter.
“What about school, though? They kick you out if you miss too many days.”
“I’ll worry about that later. I should be fine for these days. What about you? Should you be in class? You’ll be in trouble if a teacher sees you on the phone.”
As if on cue, he heard voices around the corner. “Damn. I’ll call you later, Sai.”
After a quick goodbye, Naruto ended the call and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. The voices he heard stopped and for a minute, Naruto wondered if he was imagining things. Shrugging, Naruto rounded the corner, before stopping in his tracks, frozen. There was no way he was seeing this. As much as Naruto tried to blame his over-active imagination, there was no denying it.
In front of him, Sasuke and Sakura were kissing.
- - - - - - - - -
Sasuke decided he didn’t feel like going to class today. Making an abrupt u-turn, he headed for quiet hallway away from the main hall. He knew those hallways were rarely used and thought it would be a perfect place to stay.
As he predicted, the hall was eerily quiet compared to the bustling noise of the main hallway. He threw his bag down and made himself comfortable at the doors of one of the abandon rooms. After settling himself, Sasuke began to think. He thought of nothing in particular; everything seemed to flood his mind. Sarutobi’s death, Orochimaru, his brother’s betrayal, Naruto, Kyuubi…
Sasuke frowned at the last thought. The mischievous alter ego was showing himself a lot more these past months. He could remember Tsunade telling him that Kyuubi rarely showed himself; the last time before Sasuke arrived happened years ago. So why was it that Kyuubi appeared more frequently and more importantly, why does he only appear in front of him? Sasuke couldn’t understand it. He had told Tsunade before she had left for the Shinobi summoning. She had been confused herself and told her that she would research the situation when she came back.
Too engrossed in thinking, he only noticed the footprint approach as the figure rounded the corner. The person turned out to be Sakura.
“Sasuke?” she said, surprised. “What are you doing here? Class has started already.”
The dark haired youth shrugged. “Didn’t feel like going to class.” He told her truthfully. He noticed her flashing a look of disappointment, the type of look a teacher would give to a student who didn’t do their homework, before it disappeared.
“I wouldn’t suggest this hallway then. Some teachers use this way as a shortcut to the copy room.”
“Thanks for the heads up.” Sasuke told her, but he didn’t move from his spot. He managed to ignore her presence for about a minute. However, the girl remained persistent as she stood there in front of him, staring. “What?” Sasuke asked his annoyance evident.
“I’m worried about you, Sasuke.” She replied.
Sasuke had to admit, he wasn’t expecting that answer. “And why are you worried about me?”
“Because you’re so distant with everyone…with me…” she muttered the last part, but Sasuke heard her clearly. “I’d wish that you would open up to m- to us.”
Sasuke couldn’t help but to roll his eyes at the slip up. “You should be more worried about your relationship with Naruto than with me. Isn’t that what girls do; constantly think about their significant others?”
“What do you mean?” Sakura asked.
“I saw the way that you flinched from his kiss just now. And you’ve began acting indifferent towards him, like you don’t even care.” Sasuke accused.
Sakura mouth flew open, ready to defend herself. However, the words were caught up in her throat. “That’s not true. I do care about him.” Sakura finally replied. “It’s just that…” she paused in hopes of finding the right words. “I’m not in love with him.” She confessed, lowering her head to face the floor. “It’s not that I didn’t have good intentions when I asked him to go out with me again. I wanted to feel loved. The first time Naruto and I were together, he waited on me hand and foot and I wanted to feel that way again. This time, Naruto didn’t give me that feeling, and in the end…” she looked up at him with determination. “All I could think about was you. Sasuke, I love you with all my being.”
Sasuke sat silent for a moment before collecting his things and standing up. He turned to leave the pink haired girl. “You make me sick.” He threw over his shoulder as he walked away. He felt the blood boiling underneath his skin and could barely control his body from shaking in anger.
How dare she use Naruto like that? She had only gotten together with him to make herself felt better. Obviously, she didn’t realize a relationship is a two way street. To make matters worse, she had confessed her love to him; one of her boyfriend’s friends. In Sasuke’s opinion, she was lower than dirt.
But Sasuke know the true reason why he was so upset. All this time, he felt that Naruto was out of reach because he was in a relationship. For months, he had to constantly watch what he couldn’t obtain. And now, the person who stole the blond away from him now doesn’t even want him made the usually calm and stoic teenager downright mad.
“Sasuke, wait!” Sakura called out from behind him, but he ignored her. He heard her footsteps following him.
“I know I’m a despicable person. Sometimes, I hate myself for what I’m doing to Naruto. But I promise I’ll end it with him. I just want to be with you!” she said, trying to keep up with Sasuke’s long and purposeful strides. Once again he ignored her.
“Sasuke! Look at me!” she practically shouted in frustration. She grabbed for Sasuke’s hand. As soon as she touched his skin, Sasuke moved his arm from the offending touch and twirled around, as but ready to throw obscenities at her.
“Don’t touch me you-” but he couldn’t finish. Caught up in his anger he failed to notice Sakura leaning in to kiss him. The shock and disgust paralyzed him for a moment. Never had he thought she would be brave enough to try something like this to him.
Snapping out of the initial shock, he grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her away. “Get away from-” He never finished his sentence. As he tried to think of the most vile insults imaginable, he stumbled backwards by a force pulling on his shoulder. He turned around to see what had caused the imbalance and was met with a fist to the face. Sasuke’s Shinobi instincts kicked in and he prepared himself to fight back. His eyes widen slightly as he was met with the fierce, azure glare.
“You fucking bastard!” the blond growled in rage, lifting his fist up to punch his target again. Sasuke managed to dodge the next attack, causing Naruto to lose his balance at the force of the swing. This, however, didn’t deter the teenager and he charge again at Sasuke.
“Naruto, wait! Let me explain.” Sasuke tried to reason with the enraged young man. But Naruto showed no signs of stopping. Sasuke could vaguely hear Sakura screaming in the background for Naruto to stop, but all he was focused on was the blond attacking him.
“How could you do that, you asshole? I thought we were friends!” Sasuke was shocked when looked into Naruto eyes. Gone were the cobalt blues and in their place was a purple shade. Sasuke cursed as he knew it was a sign that Naruto was close to sending out Kyuubi. He needed to find a way to clam the blond down, or have the trouble of explaining to Sakura why her boyfriend has red eyes and super-human strength.
Thinking of nothing else possible, Sasuke took hold of the arm Naruto tried to punch him with and twisted it behind the blond young man, effectively putting him into an arm lock.
“Fuck! Let go of me!” Naruto snarled, causing Sasuke to worry that he was perhaps making the matters worse. Despite his doubts, Sasuke held on, causing Naruto to struggle.
Finally, the blond stopped his resistance. “Why?” was all he asked in a small, weak voice. Sasuke gut twisted at the pathetic tone of the other teenager. He loosened his grip, but still held on, in case Naruto decided to lash out again.
“Why don’t you ask your girlfriend over there?” Sasuke said, trying not to sound bitter at the thought of the pink haired girl.
Sakura was standing only a few feet away from the two. She had her hands covering her mouth as silent tears slid down her face. “I’m sorry.” She sobbed. “I never meant for this to happen. You were never supposed to see.”
“Sakura kissed me.” Sasuke explained, glaring daggers at the young women in front of him. He felt Naruto’s arm grow tense.
Sakura continued to cry and Sasuke quickly lost his patience. “Tell him. Sakura!” he almost yelled, causing her to jump.
“…I was the one who kissed Sasuke.” She admitted. She held her gaze to the floor. “I didn’t plan to do it, Naruto. I promise.” She paused. “To be honest, I’m still in love with Sasuke.”
Sasuke gritted his teeth at the thought of the pinked hair girl being in love with him.
“So why go out with me?” Naruto growled.
Sakura paused before proceeding. “I thought… I thought that you could love me.” She said barely above a whisper. “I thought that if you loved me enough, I could forget about Sasuke and be happy. But I wasn’t. I felt as if I wasn’t first priority in your life; that you were casting me aside for others. It was only natural for my feeling s for Sasuke to come back. You didn’t love me enough.”
All was silent for a moment. Sasuke and Sakura waited impatiently for Naruto’s reply, each wondering what the blond would say.
“Sasuke.” He said quietly. The Uchiha just stood there, waiting for whatever Naruto was about to say. “Let go of me.”
Sasuke thought about it and figured that Naruto would no longer be any threat. He let go of the blond’s arm and back away slowly. Once again it was silent as none of the three teenagers talked.
As the silence drew on, Naruto began to walk away.
“Naruto, wait.” Sasuke called out. But the blond never gave so much as a glance back. “Dammit.” Sasuke cursed in frustration. He moved to grab his things and follow him; there was no telling what stupid things Naruto might do in his state.
“Is it so wrong?” Sasuke hear Sakura say behind him. He turned to face her. “Why is it so wrong that I wanted someone to love me?”
The Uchiha saw someone walk around the corner. “Hey. Shouldn’t you two be in class?” he asked; no doubt a teacher.
“We were just on our way.” Sasuke replied back. Just before he walked past the pink haired girl, he said his final remark. “Because a person has no right to demand love when they can’t even give it themselves.” He said, barely said above a whisper and disappeared around the corner, in search Naruto.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Iruka felt himself squirm as he stood in front of Kakashi. Even though he came to Kakashi’s classroom during their break, he had no idea what he was going to say to his lover. He cursed himself for not being prepared. And Kakashi did not make matters any easier with the way he sat at his desk with an air of authority about him; his piercing star directed towards the younger teacher.
“How may I help you, Iruka?” he asked calmly and formally, making Iruka cringe. Only once had he felt such coldness directed towards him from Kakashi and the same hurt and guilty feeling bloomed inside of him.
“Are-are you still angry at me?” He asked meekly. Kakashi did not reply. “I’m sorry.” Iruka said. “I had no reason to tell you about my other job. Besides, it’s not like you were going to tell me what you were even if I didn’t know.”
Iruka was once again met by silence. Frustrated, Iruka was about to walk away, when finally Kakashi replied.
“Although, that does pisses me off that you didn’t tell me, that isn’t the reason why I’m angry right now.” His visible eye narrowed. “Just who is this Mizuki that we saw?”
Iruka cursed his luck. Of all things, Mizuki was the last topic he wanted to discuss, especially with Kakashi.
“Mizuki-” he paused, trying to find a good way to start his tale. “Mizuki was my previous lover. While we were dating, I knew nothing about Shinobi Inc. and spies. But Mizuki was part of the Konoha division, stationed at this school. He never seemed suspicious or abusive in any way when we were dating and so I thought there possibly couldn’t be anything wrong with him.
But one day, I overheard him talking over the phone about a mission to infiltrate and assassinate someone in the area. He caught me and tried to kill me so that I couldn’t tell anyone about Shinobi Inc. Instead of killing me right away, he toyed with me to the brink of death.
Luckily, Naruto, who I had been tutoring before he entered high school, had come over my house and saw what was going on. He saved my life and nearly killed Mizuki in the process. It was Kyuubi, I later found out from the Hokage, who saved me, even if he was only there for about a minute.
After calling the police, Mizuki was arrested and convicted of attempted murder and I was visited by representatives of the Konoha division. Since I knew of their existence, they gave me the option of becoming a hostage of Konoha or becoming a scout for them. No surprise I chose the latter.”
Iruka, whose eyes had cast downward during his story, looked back up at his lover. He was startled to see the one visible eye glaring fiercely, and stood up. He made his way towards Iruka.
“Kakashi?” Iruka said nervously as the taller and in Iruka opinion, intimidating, man approached until he was only inches from the other.
“You’ve just made me want to kill that bastard even more.” Kakashi hissed. It was then Iruka realized with relief that the look was not intended for him.
“Sorry.” Iruka wasn’t sure exactly what he was apologizing for; he just felt that he needed to.
Kakashi put his hand on the other’s cheek. “What are you apologizing for? It’s not your fault that the guy was a crazy killer. Though, I have to say that your next choice in lovers was better than the last.”
Iruka smiled at the attempted humor. Kakashi always knew how to make things better. Suddenly, Kakashi’s cheery aura disappeared and, once again, he became serious.
“Next time I see him, I am going to kill him, Iruka. I would have no other choice since he is after Naruto.”
Despite all that Mizuki had done, Iruka couldn’t completely hate him enough to wish him dead; it just wasn’t in Iruka’s nature. But he understood if it had to be done. Iruka leaned against Kakashi. “I know.” He said, his face muffled by Kakashi’s shoulder. “You must do your duty to protect Naruto. I would do the same for him.”
They stood there silent for a while, before Iruka looked up at the man in front of him. He still looked as if he were deep in thought. “There’s still something on your mind. What’s wrong?” he asked.
Kakashi backed up and turned his face away from Iruka. That surprised the young teacher. If he hadn’t known any better, he would’ve thought that Kakashi was embarrassed over something.
“I was just wondering…” the silver haired man paused briefly as if trying to figure out what to say next. “If you still have feeling for him.” He finished, not once looking at Iruka.
Iruka blinked. “For whom?” he asked dumbly.
“That Mizuki guy.”
Iruka blinked again. This time, it was follow with a gape. “What? Of course not! What gave you that idea?”
Kakashi did something that would resemble a pout if he were anyone else. “The way you talked about him made it seemed like you truly loved him as a lover. That and you would barely give me a time and day at the beginning of the year when I was pursuing you. I thought you were playing hard to get, but after hearing what you said, you were probably weren’t over him.”
“I never gave you a chance because I thought you were egotistic, playboy, not because I was still in love with Mizuki. If anything, that relationship with him made me never want to date another person again, let alone a Shinobi.”
“Oh.” Kakashi said lamely.
“Honestly, Kakashi! If I didn’t want to be with you, I wouldn’t be.” Iruka scolded. He looked at the other man in front of him and noticed his embarrassed expression (though Kakashi would never admit to being embarrassed).
“Do worry, I have no plans of leaving you for some criminal, or anyone else. At least, not yet.” He added jokingly.
Kakashi cracked a smile and leaned his forehead against Iruka’s. “You don’t know how much you saying that means to me.” Kakashi whispered.
Hearing how serious his statement was, Iruka wrapped his arms around the other man, bringing him closer. Neither said a word, however, both understood each other perfectly just from their embrace.
Summary: Sasuke is a spy for Shinobi Inc. and is sent to guard the 1 hyperactive blond of Konoha High School, Naruto Uzumaki. He finds out later that Naruto has two personalities and both are driving him crazy, but for two different reasons.
Espionage
Chapter 14: Is Wanting Love So Wrong?
Sasuke glanced around the basement. He saw all of his fellow teenage konoha shinobi lounging around in chairs or standing. Sasuke couldn’t help, but wonder what this was about. Earlier that day, he had been informed to return home immediately for an emergency meeting amongst konoha Shinobi.
He stood right next to Neji. He had tried to ask his partner if he knew the reason why they were all here, however the long hair brunette barely paid attention and look as if he were deep in thought. ’What’s wrong with him?’
The others seem to know even less. There were speculations of what could cause an emergency meeting, but no one had affirmative answers.
“Where are the others anyway?” Ten-Ten asked, moving closer to her silent boyfriend.
Before anyone could respond, the basement door opened, following by sounds of footsteps thumping down the stairs. Jiraiya appeared first, followed by Tsunade, Kakashi and surprisingly coming in last, Iruka.
The school teacher waved at the now gaping students, a small blush on his face.
“I-Iruka-sensei you’re a S-Shinobi?” Hinata asked with her usual stutter.
“I’m only a scout, but yes, I’m a Shinobi.”
Before anymore questions could be asked, Tsunade cleared her throat. “You ask more questions about him later.” Her face grew serious. “Right now, we have a serious matter to talk about.”
The teenagers looked at each other. They noticed the mood change amongst the adults in the room to dark and morbid; it must be something serious.
“What’s the problem?” Shikamaru asked, for once not looking as if he were about to fall asleep.
“We received a message earlier, stating that our Headquarters had been invaded.” Tsunade told them.
The room instantly grew more silent than what Sasuke remembered it being. And for good reason. His facial expression was controlled to mild shock; however, his mind was bursting with questions and disbelief. Shinobi headquarters were practically impossible to raid.
“How?” Was all Ten-ten could muster. The other young Shinobi was equally shaken up, each one looking as if they had countless of questions to ask.
“It was Orochimaru. He was one of the top Shinobi that Konoha had and basically knew the headquarters from top to bottom. I suspect he was the leader of the invasion. Why he did it, we don’t know.”
“I don’t know this Orochimaru guy, but I’m sure he did it in order to shake us up; warn us that this isn’t the end. I assume that there wasn’t anything stolen from headquarters?”
Tsunade nodded her head. She had thought the same thing Shikamaru suggested. It sounded like something Orochimaru would do.
“So what is the Hokage plan on doing? Is he sending us back to headquarters?” asked Neji.
The adults looked at each other in hesitance. It wasn’t until Jiraiya nodded at Tsunade did she inform the teenagers that the Hokage was dead.
Gasps and shouts of outrage and disbelief echoed the basement walls. This all had to be a dream, Sasuke thought. Not only had Konoha HQ been infiltrated, but now the Hokage was killed as well? The thought only sunk in worse when he saw the sad and somber looks on the elder spies.
Tsunade order the group to calm down and shut up. Clearing her throat, she began to speak again. “The elders are having an emergency meeting, to find out who will be the next Hokage. Jiraiya and I, and a few other Shinobi based here will be leaving tomorrow to attend. This means that there will be less people to guard Naruto. I have no doubt this was all a distraction from Orochimaru in order to lighten up security around Naruto. So, we need every single one of you to be on your guard and on full watch while we’re gone.”
Remembering their duties, the group nodded in affirmative. “Good. While I’m away, Kakashi is in charge. Even I’m not sure we’re we’ll be going, so you won’t be able to contact me if something were to happen.” She looked around and everyone in the basement. “Everyone, please be careful. These are dangerous enemies we’re dealing with.” Everyone nodded and silently bided her and Jiraiya farewell as they left the house. As they left, Sasuke could help but have a bad feeling of what was to come.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Next day at school, there was an air of morbidity amongst a majority of the group of friends during lunch. Naruto looked around at his friends then to kiba, as if to ask what happened. Kiba only shrugged his shoulders, just as baffled as the blond.
“Hey, you guys, what up with all of you? Did something happen?”
Naruto stiffen as all of the sadden and serious expressions looked up at him. There was a pause and the konoha spies glanced at each other. How were they to explain what had happened?
Luckily, Neji was a quick thinker. “We’ve found out yesterday that one of our teachers from Japan has passed away. You could say he was very close to us.” The other nodded in agreement.
“Oh.” Naruto said solemnly. “I’m sorry for your loss. Will you guys be heading back home for a funeral?”
They told him they wouldn’t. The funeral was taking place in a day or two and as much as they wanted to go to see their employer one last time, it was now more important to make sure that Naruto was safe and out of Akatsuki’s hands.
The mood of the group did not lighten up throughout the entire lunch. The uncomfortable silence lingered on even after both Naruto and Kiba tried to lighten the gloomy mood. Finally, the two gave up and watched as their friends mourned.
After lunch, Sakura appeared and greeted the group. Naruto smiled and gave her a peck on the cheeks. Sasuke noticed the pink hair girl wince and move slightly away, but the blond didn’t seem to notice. Although confused about Sakura’s reaction, the Uchiha said nothing and walked away from the group, missing Sakura’s smile deflate a little.
“What’s wrong with Sasuke?” she asked.
“Someone they knew back home passed away. They all’ve been like this since school started.” Naruto whispered to her. The others were too busy clearing their table to notice the conversation between the couple.
“That’s horrible.” She stated, the pity she felt for the foreign students obvious.
“Anyway, why are you here, Sakura? I told you already had lunch?”
She flashed a stack of papers at him. “I’m running an errand for my teacher. I should be going then. I’ll see you later.” She didn’t wait for a reply and walked off in the general direction of Sasuke. Naruto frowned at the odd behavior of his girlfriend, but decided it was nothing. Probably just one of usual mood swings.
“Hey, Naruto?” the blond looked up at Kiba. “Have you’ve seen Sai around? Not that I care, but it’s been a couple days since he’s been to school.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too. He usually doesn’t miss so much school. Perhaps he’s sick. I’ll call him later to tell him how much you miss him.” The blond dodged the punch that was aimed towards him and walked away, laughing.
The crowd of students quickly filled up the halls, all making their way to their destination. Naruto didn’t feel like braving the crowd and took the longer, less crowded way to class. The hall he took was quiet; barely anyone use this route as it was out of the way of the main part of the school where all of the classrooms were.
Naruto decided that now would be a good time to call Sai. He looked around and found no teachers around, so he pulled out his phone and called his senior friend.
The phone rang three times before the other line pick up. “Hello?”
“Hey, Sai.”
“…Naruto? Why are you calling? Is something up?” Naruto noticed, Sai sounded tired, as if he hadn’t sleep well in a couple days.
“I wanted to know where you’ve been. We haven’t seen you at school. Kiba says he misses you.” To Naruto’s pleasure, Sai let out a soft chuckle over the phone.
“I’m sure he did.”
“But really, we’ve you been?”
“I’ve been…busy. I have a bit of an emergency to deal with. Probably won’t be back for a while.” Sai did not explain more than that, not satisfying Naruto’s curiosity at all. But the blond did not press on. It was obviously a very private matter.
“What about school, though? They kick you out if you miss too many days.”
“I’ll worry about that later. I should be fine for these days. What about you? Should you be in class? You’ll be in trouble if a teacher sees you on the phone.”
As if on cue, he heard voices around the corner. “Damn. I’ll call you later, Sai.”
After a quick goodbye, Naruto ended the call and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. The voices he heard stopped and for a minute, Naruto wondered if he was imagining things. Shrugging, Naruto rounded the corner, before stopping in his tracks, frozen. There was no way he was seeing this. As much as Naruto tried to blame his over-active imagination, there was no denying it.
In front of him, Sasuke and Sakura were kissing.
- - - - - - - - -
Sasuke decided he didn’t feel like going to class today. Making an abrupt u-turn, he headed for quiet hallway away from the main hall. He knew those hallways were rarely used and thought it would be a perfect place to stay.
As he predicted, the hall was eerily quiet compared to the bustling noise of the main hallway. He threw his bag down and made himself comfortable at the doors of one of the abandon rooms. After settling himself, Sasuke began to think. He thought of nothing in particular; everything seemed to flood his mind. Sarutobi’s death, Orochimaru, his brother’s betrayal, Naruto, Kyuubi…
Sasuke frowned at the last thought. The mischievous alter ego was showing himself a lot more these past months. He could remember Tsunade telling him that Kyuubi rarely showed himself; the last time before Sasuke arrived happened years ago. So why was it that Kyuubi appeared more frequently and more importantly, why does he only appear in front of him? Sasuke couldn’t understand it. He had told Tsunade before she had left for the Shinobi summoning. She had been confused herself and told her that she would research the situation when she came back.
Too engrossed in thinking, he only noticed the footprint approach as the figure rounded the corner. The person turned out to be Sakura.
“Sasuke?” she said, surprised. “What are you doing here? Class has started already.”
The dark haired youth shrugged. “Didn’t feel like going to class.” He told her truthfully. He noticed her flashing a look of disappointment, the type of look a teacher would give to a student who didn’t do their homework, before it disappeared.
“I wouldn’t suggest this hallway then. Some teachers use this way as a shortcut to the copy room.”
“Thanks for the heads up.” Sasuke told her, but he didn’t move from his spot. He managed to ignore her presence for about a minute. However, the girl remained persistent as she stood there in front of him, staring. “What?” Sasuke asked his annoyance evident.
“I’m worried about you, Sasuke.” She replied.
Sasuke had to admit, he wasn’t expecting that answer. “And why are you worried about me?”
“Because you’re so distant with everyone…with me…” she muttered the last part, but Sasuke heard her clearly. “I’d wish that you would open up to m- to us.”
Sasuke couldn’t help but to roll his eyes at the slip up. “You should be more worried about your relationship with Naruto than with me. Isn’t that what girls do; constantly think about their significant others?”
“What do you mean?” Sakura asked.
“I saw the way that you flinched from his kiss just now. And you’ve began acting indifferent towards him, like you don’t even care.” Sasuke accused.
Sakura mouth flew open, ready to defend herself. However, the words were caught up in her throat. “That’s not true. I do care about him.” Sakura finally replied. “It’s just that…” she paused in hopes of finding the right words. “I’m not in love with him.” She confessed, lowering her head to face the floor. “It’s not that I didn’t have good intentions when I asked him to go out with me again. I wanted to feel loved. The first time Naruto and I were together, he waited on me hand and foot and I wanted to feel that way again. This time, Naruto didn’t give me that feeling, and in the end…” she looked up at him with determination. “All I could think about was you. Sasuke, I love you with all my being.”
Sasuke sat silent for a moment before collecting his things and standing up. He turned to leave the pink haired girl. “You make me sick.” He threw over his shoulder as he walked away. He felt the blood boiling underneath his skin and could barely control his body from shaking in anger.
How dare she use Naruto like that? She had only gotten together with him to make herself felt better. Obviously, she didn’t realize a relationship is a two way street. To make matters worse, she had confessed her love to him; one of her boyfriend’s friends. In Sasuke’s opinion, she was lower than dirt.
But Sasuke know the true reason why he was so upset. All this time, he felt that Naruto was out of reach because he was in a relationship. For months, he had to constantly watch what he couldn’t obtain. And now, the person who stole the blond away from him now doesn’t even want him made the usually calm and stoic teenager downright mad.
“Sasuke, wait!” Sakura called out from behind him, but he ignored her. He heard her footsteps following him.
“I know I’m a despicable person. Sometimes, I hate myself for what I’m doing to Naruto. But I promise I’ll end it with him. I just want to be with you!” she said, trying to keep up with Sasuke’s long and purposeful strides. Once again he ignored her.
“Sasuke! Look at me!” she practically shouted in frustration. She grabbed for Sasuke’s hand. As soon as she touched his skin, Sasuke moved his arm from the offending touch and twirled around, as but ready to throw obscenities at her.
“Don’t touch me you-” but he couldn’t finish. Caught up in his anger he failed to notice Sakura leaning in to kiss him. The shock and disgust paralyzed him for a moment. Never had he thought she would be brave enough to try something like this to him.
Snapping out of the initial shock, he grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her away. “Get away from-” He never finished his sentence. As he tried to think of the most vile insults imaginable, he stumbled backwards by a force pulling on his shoulder. He turned around to see what had caused the imbalance and was met with a fist to the face. Sasuke’s Shinobi instincts kicked in and he prepared himself to fight back. His eyes widen slightly as he was met with the fierce, azure glare.
“You fucking bastard!” the blond growled in rage, lifting his fist up to punch his target again. Sasuke managed to dodge the next attack, causing Naruto to lose his balance at the force of the swing. This, however, didn’t deter the teenager and he charge again at Sasuke.
“Naruto, wait! Let me explain.” Sasuke tried to reason with the enraged young man. But Naruto showed no signs of stopping. Sasuke could vaguely hear Sakura screaming in the background for Naruto to stop, but all he was focused on was the blond attacking him.
“How could you do that, you asshole? I thought we were friends!” Sasuke was shocked when looked into Naruto eyes. Gone were the cobalt blues and in their place was a purple shade. Sasuke cursed as he knew it was a sign that Naruto was close to sending out Kyuubi. He needed to find a way to clam the blond down, or have the trouble of explaining to Sakura why her boyfriend has red eyes and super-human strength.
Thinking of nothing else possible, Sasuke took hold of the arm Naruto tried to punch him with and twisted it behind the blond young man, effectively putting him into an arm lock.
“Fuck! Let go of me!” Naruto snarled, causing Sasuke to worry that he was perhaps making the matters worse. Despite his doubts, Sasuke held on, causing Naruto to struggle.
Finally, the blond stopped his resistance. “Why?” was all he asked in a small, weak voice. Sasuke gut twisted at the pathetic tone of the other teenager. He loosened his grip, but still held on, in case Naruto decided to lash out again.
“Why don’t you ask your girlfriend over there?” Sasuke said, trying not to sound bitter at the thought of the pink haired girl.
Sakura was standing only a few feet away from the two. She had her hands covering her mouth as silent tears slid down her face. “I’m sorry.” She sobbed. “I never meant for this to happen. You were never supposed to see.”
“Sakura kissed me.” Sasuke explained, glaring daggers at the young women in front of him. He felt Naruto’s arm grow tense.
Sakura continued to cry and Sasuke quickly lost his patience. “Tell him. Sakura!” he almost yelled, causing her to jump.
“…I was the one who kissed Sasuke.” She admitted. She held her gaze to the floor. “I didn’t plan to do it, Naruto. I promise.” She paused. “To be honest, I’m still in love with Sasuke.”
Sasuke gritted his teeth at the thought of the pinked hair girl being in love with him.
“So why go out with me?” Naruto growled.
Sakura paused before proceeding. “I thought… I thought that you could love me.” She said barely above a whisper. “I thought that if you loved me enough, I could forget about Sasuke and be happy. But I wasn’t. I felt as if I wasn’t first priority in your life; that you were casting me aside for others. It was only natural for my feeling s for Sasuke to come back. You didn’t love me enough.”
All was silent for a moment. Sasuke and Sakura waited impatiently for Naruto’s reply, each wondering what the blond would say.
“Sasuke.” He said quietly. The Uchiha just stood there, waiting for whatever Naruto was about to say. “Let go of me.”
Sasuke thought about it and figured that Naruto would no longer be any threat. He let go of the blond’s arm and back away slowly. Once again it was silent as none of the three teenagers talked.
As the silence drew on, Naruto began to walk away.
“Naruto, wait.” Sasuke called out. But the blond never gave so much as a glance back. “Dammit.” Sasuke cursed in frustration. He moved to grab his things and follow him; there was no telling what stupid things Naruto might do in his state.
“Is it so wrong?” Sasuke hear Sakura say behind him. He turned to face her. “Why is it so wrong that I wanted someone to love me?”
The Uchiha saw someone walk around the corner. “Hey. Shouldn’t you two be in class?” he asked; no doubt a teacher.
“We were just on our way.” Sasuke replied back. Just before he walked past the pink haired girl, he said his final remark. “Because a person has no right to demand love when they can’t even give it themselves.” He said, barely said above a whisper and disappeared around the corner, in search Naruto.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Iruka felt himself squirm as he stood in front of Kakashi. Even though he came to Kakashi’s classroom during their break, he had no idea what he was going to say to his lover. He cursed himself for not being prepared. And Kakashi did not make matters any easier with the way he sat at his desk with an air of authority about him; his piercing star directed towards the younger teacher.
“How may I help you, Iruka?” he asked calmly and formally, making Iruka cringe. Only once had he felt such coldness directed towards him from Kakashi and the same hurt and guilty feeling bloomed inside of him.
“Are-are you still angry at me?” He asked meekly. Kakashi did not reply. “I’m sorry.” Iruka said. “I had no reason to tell you about my other job. Besides, it’s not like you were going to tell me what you were even if I didn’t know.”
Iruka was once again met by silence. Frustrated, Iruka was about to walk away, when finally Kakashi replied.
“Although, that does pisses me off that you didn’t tell me, that isn’t the reason why I’m angry right now.” His visible eye narrowed. “Just who is this Mizuki that we saw?”
Iruka cursed his luck. Of all things, Mizuki was the last topic he wanted to discuss, especially with Kakashi.
“Mizuki-” he paused, trying to find a good way to start his tale. “Mizuki was my previous lover. While we were dating, I knew nothing about Shinobi Inc. and spies. But Mizuki was part of the Konoha division, stationed at this school. He never seemed suspicious or abusive in any way when we were dating and so I thought there possibly couldn’t be anything wrong with him.
But one day, I overheard him talking over the phone about a mission to infiltrate and assassinate someone in the area. He caught me and tried to kill me so that I couldn’t tell anyone about Shinobi Inc. Instead of killing me right away, he toyed with me to the brink of death.
Luckily, Naruto, who I had been tutoring before he entered high school, had come over my house and saw what was going on. He saved my life and nearly killed Mizuki in the process. It was Kyuubi, I later found out from the Hokage, who saved me, even if he was only there for about a minute.
After calling the police, Mizuki was arrested and convicted of attempted murder and I was visited by representatives of the Konoha division. Since I knew of their existence, they gave me the option of becoming a hostage of Konoha or becoming a scout for them. No surprise I chose the latter.”
Iruka, whose eyes had cast downward during his story, looked back up at his lover. He was startled to see the one visible eye glaring fiercely, and stood up. He made his way towards Iruka.
“Kakashi?” Iruka said nervously as the taller and in Iruka opinion, intimidating, man approached until he was only inches from the other.
“You’ve just made me want to kill that bastard even more.” Kakashi hissed. It was then Iruka realized with relief that the look was not intended for him.
“Sorry.” Iruka wasn’t sure exactly what he was apologizing for; he just felt that he needed to.
Kakashi put his hand on the other’s cheek. “What are you apologizing for? It’s not your fault that the guy was a crazy killer. Though, I have to say that your next choice in lovers was better than the last.”
Iruka smiled at the attempted humor. Kakashi always knew how to make things better. Suddenly, Kakashi’s cheery aura disappeared and, once again, he became serious.
“Next time I see him, I am going to kill him, Iruka. I would have no other choice since he is after Naruto.”
Despite all that Mizuki had done, Iruka couldn’t completely hate him enough to wish him dead; it just wasn’t in Iruka’s nature. But he understood if it had to be done. Iruka leaned against Kakashi. “I know.” He said, his face muffled by Kakashi’s shoulder. “You must do your duty to protect Naruto. I would do the same for him.”
They stood there silent for a while, before Iruka looked up at the man in front of him. He still looked as if he were deep in thought. “There’s still something on your mind. What’s wrong?” he asked.
Kakashi backed up and turned his face away from Iruka. That surprised the young teacher. If he hadn’t known any better, he would’ve thought that Kakashi was embarrassed over something.
“I was just wondering…” the silver haired man paused briefly as if trying to figure out what to say next. “If you still have feeling for him.” He finished, not once looking at Iruka.
Iruka blinked. “For whom?” he asked dumbly.
“That Mizuki guy.”
Iruka blinked again. This time, it was follow with a gape. “What? Of course not! What gave you that idea?”
Kakashi did something that would resemble a pout if he were anyone else. “The way you talked about him made it seemed like you truly loved him as a lover. That and you would barely give me a time and day at the beginning of the year when I was pursuing you. I thought you were playing hard to get, but after hearing what you said, you were probably weren’t over him.”
“I never gave you a chance because I thought you were egotistic, playboy, not because I was still in love with Mizuki. If anything, that relationship with him made me never want to date another person again, let alone a Shinobi.”
“Oh.” Kakashi said lamely.
“Honestly, Kakashi! If I didn’t want to be with you, I wouldn’t be.” Iruka scolded. He looked at the other man in front of him and noticed his embarrassed expression (though Kakashi would never admit to being embarrassed).
“Do worry, I have no plans of leaving you for some criminal, or anyone else. At least, not yet.” He added jokingly.
Kakashi cracked a smile and leaned his forehead against Iruka’s. “You don’t know how much you saying that means to me.” Kakashi whispered.
Hearing how serious his statement was, Iruka wrapped his arms around the other man, bringing him closer. Neither said a word, however, both understood each other perfectly just from their embrace.