Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Reflections ❯ Mounting Frustrations ( Chapter 2 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: siberianknight 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Mystery | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 01.08.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 1.8K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Mystery | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 01.08.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 1.8K | Status: Completed
Author's Notes: I don't really have much to say about this chapter. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as the first. ^_^
Oh, and I do know that grammatically speaking, it's supposed to be midori no mori, but since it's the name of a place, I didn't want it to be so much a sentence as I did a name. So I dropped the no from the word. n_n
Warnings: None
Chapter Status: COMPLETE
~~~~~
Naruto curled up in a tight ball under the covers. The odd thing was that the bed seemed somewhat familiar to him, but he was at a loss as to why. After he heard the front door shut behind Sasuke, he slowly pushed the covers down from his head. The room was small, but cozy. The fact that there was a large moving box in the corner of the room indicated that Sasuke had been telling the truth about him moving in the previous day.
Naruto climbed off the bed and walked slowly over to the box. It was marked, ‘Naruto’s Junk,’ it was obviously Sasuke’s writing. His calligraphy was always so neat and even. Naruto rolled his eyes and opened up the box. Inside he found clothing, none of which he ever remembered purchasing. Not that he had bad taste, it looked to be very nice clothes, and was exactly what he would have bought ... had he actually bought them. A loud ringing noise caused Naruto to jump. He looked around the room and wondered what the noise could be. Following the sound, he discovered that it was emanating from a funny looking object sitting on a side table in the main room of the apartment.
Naruto examined the object and carefully picked up the removable part. Once he did so, he stared at it because it had stopped ringing. A voice began to come out of the speakers on the device. It was Sakura. “Hello? ... Sasuke? ... Naruto?”
Naruto wasn’t sure what to do with it. “Huh ... Sakura-chan?” He was holding the thing close to his mouth when he spoke; he still didn’t know what it was, but it did remind him a little of the communicators which they used on missions.
“Naruto? Is something wrong? Why didn’t you say something when you picked up the phone?” Naruto slowly moved the receiver to his ear and realized that he could hear Sakura so much better with it in that position.
“Oh, um ... I dunno. Sorry. Hey, Sakura ... um can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” Sakura sounded happy, yet another odd mark in this world. Normally she would have yelled at him over not saying anything, but she just simply asked it, almost as if they were friends ... real friends.
“Well ... I think I’ve hit my head or something. I’m not sure, but listen -- don’t think I’m acting weird or anything ... did I really move in with Sasuke?”
“Yeah ... why do you ask?”
Naruto walked over to the small futon which dominated the small room, and sat down. “Well ... I don’t remember it. I also ... never mind.” He had almost stated that he didn’t remember a place called Tokyo, but decided that she would definitely call him weird after saying that.
“Naruto,” Sakura was laughing, she was actually laughing at him. Well, now Naruto felt at home. At least there was one thing that was normal, and it was Sakura’s reactions. “Were you two drinking last night?” She was still giggling.
“No,” Naruto ground out through clinched teeth. Why was she asking him that? She knew that he didn’t drink ... well not since that one time when he got drunk and danced around naked. He had always tried to forget that had happened, but no one else would let him. “I just -- never mind. Did you want something?”
“Yeah, did you forget?”
“Forget what?” Naruto felt an odd twinge in the back of his mind. He wasn’t sure what it was, just that it felt like he had honestly forgotten something important.
“Silly, Lee and my engagement dinner ... it’s tonight.” Sakura sighed, she had known that Naruto would forget about it. That had been her reason behind telling Sasuke first, so that they would definitely be at the party.
“Oh ... that ... um -- no I didn’t forget. We’ll be there. Promise!” Naruto wasn’t about to show anymore weakness to Sakura. He still felt the sting of all the teasing when he was younger, and although he always managed to be better than the taunting, it still hurt.
“Ri~ght, Naruto. I know Sasuke will remember ... so don’t forget to wear your Spring kimono! I’ll see you tonight. Bye!” There was a soft click and then a quiet but steady beeping replaced Sakura’s voice. Naruto took the ‘phone’ away from his ear and replaced the handset. He gazed at the small room and noticed that one wall had pictures on a bulletin board. He walked up to the board and studied the photographs pinned to it’s cork surface. They were all of Sasuke and himself. There was one that caught his attention. The two were standing together, Sasuke was behind Naruto and had his arms wrapped around the other boy’s waist. They looked happy and in love.
Naruto’s stomach growled loudly, and he realized that he hadn’t eaten anything since he woke up. He walked into the small kitchen which was just across from the bedroom. He rummaged through the cabinets until he found some ramen. Naruto sat down and began to plan what he should do about his situation. Obviously there was no getting back to Konoha, because he wasn’t even certain as to how he had arrived in this Tokyo place. There was only one thing he could do ... explore.
Naruto quickly finished his ramen and downed an entire glass of milk before heading for the small bathroom in the apartment. He gazed inside and noticed that there was a shower. “Sasuke and I must be paying a lot for this place ...” He grinned and happily rinsed away some of his worry with a hot shower. Once done he dressed and then walked to the door. It was then that he realized he couldn’t really go anywhere, because he didn’t have a key. “Damnit!” Naruto made a low growling noise as he slipped his shoes off. “So just what the hell am I supposed to do until Sasuke gets back?” His face scrunched up into a pout as he looked at the small room. The apartment wasn’t very big. The main room only held a small television set, a futon, and there was a table next to the TV which had the phone on it. The kitchen was also the dining area and had a small table in the center of it. Then there was the bedroom, which was the same size as the main room. Naruto thought that it wasn’t all that much bigger than either Kakashi-sensei’s room or Iruka-sensei’s room. “I wonder if they’re in this weird world too ...”
Not coming up with anything constructive to do, Naruto plopped down onto the futon and clicked on the TV. He flipped through the channels until he landed on what appeared to be a soap opera. After a few moments, his eyelids began to sag, and he soon fell asleep.
~~~~~
Sasuke sat in his calculus class staring out the window for most of it. He couldn’t figure out why Naruto was acting so odd. It wasn’t as if he had hit is head or anything of that nature, so just why was he pretending to not remember anything? “Sasuke-kun!” The teacher’s outburst caused Sasuke’s head to snap forward and face the one who had just yelled.
“Y-yes, Sensei?”
“Your homework, pass if forward ...” Sasuke glanced around at the other students who were now snickering softly. He had never spaced out in class, that had always been Naruto’s job. He felt so embarrassed. Almost enough to crawl under his desk, but that would’ve just made everything worse. The papers were passed forward and Sasuke relaxed a little. Maybe Naruto was just playing with him. Yes, that had to be it ... because why would he lose his memory like that?
Class finally came to an end and Sasuke exited the building as quickly as possible. If he were lucky, Setsuko would be nowhere in sight. Unfortunately, he was wrong. “S~asuke~kun!” The five-foot tall monster came running up to Sasuke’s side and happily twined her arm around his own. “I’ve been looking for you! I wanted to know if you were busy tonight ... you know so you could tutor me in math.” Her smile was so amazingly fake that it made Sasuke want to laugh. She was only interested in him now because he had blown her off in high school. When she had found out that he was gay, that made it all the more intriguing for her to try and trap him. Setsuko wanted to be the one who turned Sasuke straight, which was never, ever going to happen. However, Sasuke wasn’t going to be rude to her, because the last time he did, she had pitched an almighty hissy fit in front of nearly the entire college. She was actually a pretty girl, just very clingy.
“Um ... Setsuko--”
“Setsu ... how many times do I have to tell you.”
Sasuke groaned inwardly. He didn’t want to call her by a pet name, especially since he didn’t consider her a friend of his. “Setsu,” Sasuke knew that he had said her name forcefully, but cared little at the moment. He just wanted to get rid of her so he could go home to Naruto. “Look, I have a previous engagement tonight. So I’m sorry, I can’t help you with math.”
“Oh ...” Setsuko sounded like a wounded child, and Sasuke despised how that made him feel guilty. He was not, however, going to jilt Sakura and Lee for this annoying female. “Is it with Naruto?”
“Yes.” They were growing steadily closer to the bus stop, and Sasuke was silently pleading with her to go away.
“Fine. I’ll get someone else.” Setsuko shoved Sasuke’s arm back against his body, and then stomped off in the opposite direction of the bus stop.
“Thank you.” Sasuke waited for the bus to show up and was grateful that he wasn’t having to endure Setsuko’s company.
“Hey, Sasuke!” It was Kiba and Hinata was not too far behind him. Sasuke waved and smiled in greeting to his friends. “Did Sakura call you today?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve been here all day ... since I’ve got that big paper I have to write for my history class.”
“Yeah, she called ... apparently she thinks that we’ve all completely forgotten her dinner party tonight.” Kiba laughed and then looked over at his girlfriend. It hadn’t been easy convince Hinata to go on a date with him, but once he did, the two had become inseparable.
“Well, it is Sakura ... she’s always been a little bit of a worrier.” The bus alert began to ching as the bus slowed down close to the stop. “Here’s my ride ... I’ll see you guys tonight.”
“Just wait until you see Hinata’s kimono. She sowed it herself.” Kiba squeezed his girl tightly around the waist as he praised her skill and looks. “She looks beautiful in it.”
“K-Kiba ...” Hinata blushed, but had a bright smile all the same. “Bye, Sasuke-kun.”
“Later, Hinata.” Sasuke climbed onto the bus and took a seat. Surely by now Naruto was rested and was getting ready for the dinner. At least, those were his hopes. Once he arrived at the bus stop near his apartment, he exited and hurried home. He found that Naruto was indeed not dressed for dinner, and was sound asleep on the futon. “Naruto ...” Sasuke shook his boyfriend and said a silent prayer of hope that he was now back to normal.
Naruto swatted at the unwelcome interruption of his sleep. “Go away,” he mumbled and rolled to get away from the strong hand which was shaking him. His roll wasn’t exactly planned well for he ended up in a heap on the hard floor. “Oww ...”
“Why aren’t you ready?”
Naruto lifted his head and peered at Sasuke through sleep ladened eyes. “Huh?”
“Ready for Sakura and Lee’s engagement dinner ...” Sasuke made an exasperated huffing noise as he lifted Naruto to his feet. “Come on, I’ll help.” He and a still sleepy Naruto stumbled into their bedroom where Sasuke set Naruto down against the bed. “Where’s your kimono?”
“In the bottom drawer.” Naruto fell backwards on the soft bed and grinned with contentment. “Cozy ...” He curled up in a little ball and fell asleep once again.
Sasuke turned with a kimono in his hands, along with a white oxford shirt. He groaned when he found that the one he was trying to help get ready was snoring softly. “Naruto! Wake up!” His loud voice caused Naruto to bolt upright and stare in confusion, most likely he was wondering why he had been awakened yet again. “Here ... you need to get ready.”
Naruto wasn’t sure what was going on, nor was he certain as to why Sasuke was continually keeping him from sleeping. It seemed like this had happened more than once this day, yet the memory was a bit fuzzy. “Say, Sasuke ... did you yell at me any other time today?”
“Yell at you? No. Well, I did this morning when I fixed breakfast and you still weren’t up. But that was the only time.”
“Oh.” Sasuke was walking toward Naruto with the clothes in his arms. Naruto raised his arms, he was still half asleep. Sasuke slipped the tee off of the other boy’s lean body, then off came the jeans. Naruto took the kimono and the crisp white shirt, then slowly pulled them into place. “There. I’m ready.”
Sasuke began to snicker and reached a hand up to calm the wild blond hairs which were sticking out in every direction. “You need to go and brush your hair.”
“Huh? Oh ... okay.” Naruto trudged out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. He opened the small medicine cabinet and pulled out the hair brush. With a loud yawn, he began to try to tame his unruly mess of hair. Sasuke stood at the doorway, watching him. He could tell that whatever had been off about him earlier was now gone. The fact that he had known where everything was without so much as a second’s hesitation was proof enough.
“Naruto ... are feeling better than when I left?”
“What do you mean?” Naruto’s brain had still been a bit blurry from sleep, but was now clearing. He remembered everything then. “Oh ... you mean the fact that you and I -- are ...” He swallowed hard as he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
“Boyfriends,” Sasuke finished with a glare. “Yes, that. Plus the fact that we’re living together now ... are you still saying you don’t remember moving in yesterday?”
Naruto looked around the bathroom trying to find some sort of escape route, but there was none. He laughed softly and then sighed in resignation. “Yeah. I don’t remember it ... I’m sorry Sasuke. I can see that it upsets you and I don’t mean to make you sad.” Naruto peered at Sasuke awaiting the usual explosion of egotism that he used to mask his true feelings, but Sasuke just turned and walked to the futon. “Sasuke?” This wasn’t like him, moping in front of Naruto like this. Sasuke just never did anything like that. To show that form of weakness would have been to resign his position in their mini-competition. The expression upon Sasuke’s face concerned him the most. “Did I say something?”
“I was just wondering what we were going to do tonight after the dinner. I guess I could sleep in here ...” Sasuke glanced uncaring at the black cushion of the futon.
“Sasuke ... you don’t have to sleep in here. I’ll do it. You can have your bed.”
“Our bed. We bought it together ... or did you forget that too?” Naruto didn’t know how to respond. Sasuke was being so serious, and it was obvious that Naruto’s memory failure was hurting him.
“Sasuke ... I -- I really can’t remember anything. I’m sorry.”
Sasuke breathed in deeply to push away the tears which were threatening to fall. “We should get going. The restaurant’s a good forty minute drive from here.” The two walked down to the bus stop in silence. Neither one knew what to say to the other, and they were both feeling a bit confused by the situation. Naruto glanced over at the man who had been his best friend, rival, and idol since they were both small boys. His feelings for Sasuke were strong, but he had never considered doing anything with him. In fact, Naruto had never even thought about being with a boy. He never thought about sex at all. It was always thoughts of how he could be a better ninja, so that he could protect the ones he loved. No there was no way that he could ever be intimate with a boy, there was just no way. He had to get back home to Konoha, to where everything made sense to him and nothing was turned upside down. “Naruto, for the sake of our friends ... please don’t let them know that you’ve forgotten things.”
“I promise.” Anything to get rid of that sad expression on Sasuke’s face. The thought that he would do anything startled Naruto somewhat. He hadn’t expected to have so strong a desire to maintain Sasuke’s happiness, but that was just because they were best friends. Yes, Naruto realized with a touch of relief, that was all it was. Their friendship was causing this odd fluttering in his chest. It had nothing to do with being attracted to him, because he wasn’t.
~~~~~
“Tsunade-sama! Tsunade-sama!” Shizune came running into the fifth Hokage’s office carrying the two communicators in her fisted hand.
“What is it Shizune?” Tsunade had had an uneasy feeling all day, but couldn’t figure out why she had felt worried, until now. The two communicators were all she needed to see. Naruto was gone.
“Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun ... they -- they disappeared.” Tears were flowing freely down her rounded face as Shizune told the entirety of the story to the Hokage.
“Damn,” Tsunade whispered. She took in a calming breath, after a handful of years as hokage, she had learned that allowing her emotions to take over was very dangerous. “Send out a rescue party. Send the leader of Anbu to see me. I must speak with him immediately. These two must be found. Even if it’s only their bodies ...”
“Yes, ma’am.” Shizune scurried off to set Tsunade’s orders into motion. Tsunade sat down at her desk and stared at the two communicators. There was no way that the two top nins in the village had succumbed to the same mysterious power which had lured so many other innocent victims, was there?
“Please, both of you be safe ...” Tsunade’s soft prayer drifted out the windows on the cool spring breeze. geovisit();
Oh, and I do know that grammatically speaking, it's supposed to be midori no mori, but since it's the name of a place, I didn't want it to be so much a sentence as I did a name. So I dropped the no from the word. n_n
Warnings: None
Chapter Status: COMPLETE
Naruto curled up in a tight ball under the covers. The odd thing was that the bed seemed somewhat familiar to him, but he was at a loss as to why. After he heard the front door shut behind Sasuke, he slowly pushed the covers down from his head. The room was small, but cozy. The fact that there was a large moving box in the corner of the room indicated that Sasuke had been telling the truth about him moving in the previous day.
Naruto climbed off the bed and walked slowly over to the box. It was marked, ‘Naruto’s Junk,’ it was obviously Sasuke’s writing. His calligraphy was always so neat and even. Naruto rolled his eyes and opened up the box. Inside he found clothing, none of which he ever remembered purchasing. Not that he had bad taste, it looked to be very nice clothes, and was exactly what he would have bought ... had he actually bought them. A loud ringing noise caused Naruto to jump. He looked around the room and wondered what the noise could be. Following the sound, he discovered that it was emanating from a funny looking object sitting on a side table in the main room of the apartment.
Naruto examined the object and carefully picked up the removable part. Once he did so, he stared at it because it had stopped ringing. A voice began to come out of the speakers on the device. It was Sakura. “Hello? ... Sasuke? ... Naruto?”
Naruto wasn’t sure what to do with it. “Huh ... Sakura-chan?” He was holding the thing close to his mouth when he spoke; he still didn’t know what it was, but it did remind him a little of the communicators which they used on missions.
“Naruto? Is something wrong? Why didn’t you say something when you picked up the phone?” Naruto slowly moved the receiver to his ear and realized that he could hear Sakura so much better with it in that position.
“Oh, um ... I dunno. Sorry. Hey, Sakura ... um can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” Sakura sounded happy, yet another odd mark in this world. Normally she would have yelled at him over not saying anything, but she just simply asked it, almost as if they were friends ... real friends.
“Well ... I think I’ve hit my head or something. I’m not sure, but listen -- don’t think I’m acting weird or anything ... did I really move in with Sasuke?”
“Yeah ... why do you ask?”
Naruto walked over to the small futon which dominated the small room, and sat down. “Well ... I don’t remember it. I also ... never mind.” He had almost stated that he didn’t remember a place called Tokyo, but decided that she would definitely call him weird after saying that.
“Naruto,” Sakura was laughing, she was actually laughing at him. Well, now Naruto felt at home. At least there was one thing that was normal, and it was Sakura’s reactions. “Were you two drinking last night?” She was still giggling.
“No,” Naruto ground out through clinched teeth. Why was she asking him that? She knew that he didn’t drink ... well not since that one time when he got drunk and danced around naked. He had always tried to forget that had happened, but no one else would let him. “I just -- never mind. Did you want something?”
“Yeah, did you forget?”
“Forget what?” Naruto felt an odd twinge in the back of his mind. He wasn’t sure what it was, just that it felt like he had honestly forgotten something important.
“Silly, Lee and my engagement dinner ... it’s tonight.” Sakura sighed, she had known that Naruto would forget about it. That had been her reason behind telling Sasuke first, so that they would definitely be at the party.
“Oh ... that ... um -- no I didn’t forget. We’ll be there. Promise!” Naruto wasn’t about to show anymore weakness to Sakura. He still felt the sting of all the teasing when he was younger, and although he always managed to be better than the taunting, it still hurt.
“Ri~ght, Naruto. I know Sasuke will remember ... so don’t forget to wear your Spring kimono! I’ll see you tonight. Bye!” There was a soft click and then a quiet but steady beeping replaced Sakura’s voice. Naruto took the ‘phone’ away from his ear and replaced the handset. He gazed at the small room and noticed that one wall had pictures on a bulletin board. He walked up to the board and studied the photographs pinned to it’s cork surface. They were all of Sasuke and himself. There was one that caught his attention. The two were standing together, Sasuke was behind Naruto and had his arms wrapped around the other boy’s waist. They looked happy and in love.
Naruto’s stomach growled loudly, and he realized that he hadn’t eaten anything since he woke up. He walked into the small kitchen which was just across from the bedroom. He rummaged through the cabinets until he found some ramen. Naruto sat down and began to plan what he should do about his situation. Obviously there was no getting back to Konoha, because he wasn’t even certain as to how he had arrived in this Tokyo place. There was only one thing he could do ... explore.
Naruto quickly finished his ramen and downed an entire glass of milk before heading for the small bathroom in the apartment. He gazed inside and noticed that there was a shower. “Sasuke and I must be paying a lot for this place ...” He grinned and happily rinsed away some of his worry with a hot shower. Once done he dressed and then walked to the door. It was then that he realized he couldn’t really go anywhere, because he didn’t have a key. “Damnit!” Naruto made a low growling noise as he slipped his shoes off. “So just what the hell am I supposed to do until Sasuke gets back?” His face scrunched up into a pout as he looked at the small room. The apartment wasn’t very big. The main room only held a small television set, a futon, and there was a table next to the TV which had the phone on it. The kitchen was also the dining area and had a small table in the center of it. Then there was the bedroom, which was the same size as the main room. Naruto thought that it wasn’t all that much bigger than either Kakashi-sensei’s room or Iruka-sensei’s room. “I wonder if they’re in this weird world too ...”
Not coming up with anything constructive to do, Naruto plopped down onto the futon and clicked on the TV. He flipped through the channels until he landed on what appeared to be a soap opera. After a few moments, his eyelids began to sag, and he soon fell asleep.
Sasuke sat in his calculus class staring out the window for most of it. He couldn’t figure out why Naruto was acting so odd. It wasn’t as if he had hit is head or anything of that nature, so just why was he pretending to not remember anything? “Sasuke-kun!” The teacher’s outburst caused Sasuke’s head to snap forward and face the one who had just yelled.
“Y-yes, Sensei?”
“Your homework, pass if forward ...” Sasuke glanced around at the other students who were now snickering softly. He had never spaced out in class, that had always been Naruto’s job. He felt so embarrassed. Almost enough to crawl under his desk, but that would’ve just made everything worse. The papers were passed forward and Sasuke relaxed a little. Maybe Naruto was just playing with him. Yes, that had to be it ... because why would he lose his memory like that?
Class finally came to an end and Sasuke exited the building as quickly as possible. If he were lucky, Setsuko would be nowhere in sight. Unfortunately, he was wrong. “S~asuke~kun!” The five-foot tall monster came running up to Sasuke’s side and happily twined her arm around his own. “I’ve been looking for you! I wanted to know if you were busy tonight ... you know so you could tutor me in math.” Her smile was so amazingly fake that it made Sasuke want to laugh. She was only interested in him now because he had blown her off in high school. When she had found out that he was gay, that made it all the more intriguing for her to try and trap him. Setsuko wanted to be the one who turned Sasuke straight, which was never, ever going to happen. However, Sasuke wasn’t going to be rude to her, because the last time he did, she had pitched an almighty hissy fit in front of nearly the entire college. She was actually a pretty girl, just very clingy.
“Um ... Setsuko--”
“Setsu ... how many times do I have to tell you.”
Sasuke groaned inwardly. He didn’t want to call her by a pet name, especially since he didn’t consider her a friend of his. “Setsu,” Sasuke knew that he had said her name forcefully, but cared little at the moment. He just wanted to get rid of her so he could go home to Naruto. “Look, I have a previous engagement tonight. So I’m sorry, I can’t help you with math.”
“Oh ...” Setsuko sounded like a wounded child, and Sasuke despised how that made him feel guilty. He was not, however, going to jilt Sakura and Lee for this annoying female. “Is it with Naruto?”
“Yes.” They were growing steadily closer to the bus stop, and Sasuke was silently pleading with her to go away.
“Fine. I’ll get someone else.” Setsuko shoved Sasuke’s arm back against his body, and then stomped off in the opposite direction of the bus stop.
“Thank you.” Sasuke waited for the bus to show up and was grateful that he wasn’t having to endure Setsuko’s company.
“Hey, Sasuke!” It was Kiba and Hinata was not too far behind him. Sasuke waved and smiled in greeting to his friends. “Did Sakura call you today?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve been here all day ... since I’ve got that big paper I have to write for my history class.”
“Yeah, she called ... apparently she thinks that we’ve all completely forgotten her dinner party tonight.” Kiba laughed and then looked over at his girlfriend. It hadn’t been easy convince Hinata to go on a date with him, but once he did, the two had become inseparable.
“Well, it is Sakura ... she’s always been a little bit of a worrier.” The bus alert began to ching as the bus slowed down close to the stop. “Here’s my ride ... I’ll see you guys tonight.”
“Just wait until you see Hinata’s kimono. She sowed it herself.” Kiba squeezed his girl tightly around the waist as he praised her skill and looks. “She looks beautiful in it.”
“K-Kiba ...” Hinata blushed, but had a bright smile all the same. “Bye, Sasuke-kun.”
“Later, Hinata.” Sasuke climbed onto the bus and took a seat. Surely by now Naruto was rested and was getting ready for the dinner. At least, those were his hopes. Once he arrived at the bus stop near his apartment, he exited and hurried home. He found that Naruto was indeed not dressed for dinner, and was sound asleep on the futon. “Naruto ...” Sasuke shook his boyfriend and said a silent prayer of hope that he was now back to normal.
Naruto swatted at the unwelcome interruption of his sleep. “Go away,” he mumbled and rolled to get away from the strong hand which was shaking him. His roll wasn’t exactly planned well for he ended up in a heap on the hard floor. “Oww ...”
“Why aren’t you ready?”
Naruto lifted his head and peered at Sasuke through sleep ladened eyes. “Huh?”
“Ready for Sakura and Lee’s engagement dinner ...” Sasuke made an exasperated huffing noise as he lifted Naruto to his feet. “Come on, I’ll help.” He and a still sleepy Naruto stumbled into their bedroom where Sasuke set Naruto down against the bed. “Where’s your kimono?”
“In the bottom drawer.” Naruto fell backwards on the soft bed and grinned with contentment. “Cozy ...” He curled up in a little ball and fell asleep once again.
Sasuke turned with a kimono in his hands, along with a white oxford shirt. He groaned when he found that the one he was trying to help get ready was snoring softly. “Naruto! Wake up!” His loud voice caused Naruto to bolt upright and stare in confusion, most likely he was wondering why he had been awakened yet again. “Here ... you need to get ready.”
Naruto wasn’t sure what was going on, nor was he certain as to why Sasuke was continually keeping him from sleeping. It seemed like this had happened more than once this day, yet the memory was a bit fuzzy. “Say, Sasuke ... did you yell at me any other time today?”
“Yell at you? No. Well, I did this morning when I fixed breakfast and you still weren’t up. But that was the only time.”
“Oh.” Sasuke was walking toward Naruto with the clothes in his arms. Naruto raised his arms, he was still half asleep. Sasuke slipped the tee off of the other boy’s lean body, then off came the jeans. Naruto took the kimono and the crisp white shirt, then slowly pulled them into place. “There. I’m ready.”
Sasuke began to snicker and reached a hand up to calm the wild blond hairs which were sticking out in every direction. “You need to go and brush your hair.”
“Huh? Oh ... okay.” Naruto trudged out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. He opened the small medicine cabinet and pulled out the hair brush. With a loud yawn, he began to try to tame his unruly mess of hair. Sasuke stood at the doorway, watching him. He could tell that whatever had been off about him earlier was now gone. The fact that he had known where everything was without so much as a second’s hesitation was proof enough.
“Naruto ... are feeling better than when I left?”
“What do you mean?” Naruto’s brain had still been a bit blurry from sleep, but was now clearing. He remembered everything then. “Oh ... you mean the fact that you and I -- are ...” He swallowed hard as he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
“Boyfriends,” Sasuke finished with a glare. “Yes, that. Plus the fact that we’re living together now ... are you still saying you don’t remember moving in yesterday?”
Naruto looked around the bathroom trying to find some sort of escape route, but there was none. He laughed softly and then sighed in resignation. “Yeah. I don’t remember it ... I’m sorry Sasuke. I can see that it upsets you and I don’t mean to make you sad.” Naruto peered at Sasuke awaiting the usual explosion of egotism that he used to mask his true feelings, but Sasuke just turned and walked to the futon. “Sasuke?” This wasn’t like him, moping in front of Naruto like this. Sasuke just never did anything like that. To show that form of weakness would have been to resign his position in their mini-competition. The expression upon Sasuke’s face concerned him the most. “Did I say something?”
“I was just wondering what we were going to do tonight after the dinner. I guess I could sleep in here ...” Sasuke glanced uncaring at the black cushion of the futon.
“Sasuke ... you don’t have to sleep in here. I’ll do it. You can have your bed.”
“Our bed. We bought it together ... or did you forget that too?” Naruto didn’t know how to respond. Sasuke was being so serious, and it was obvious that Naruto’s memory failure was hurting him.
“Sasuke ... I -- I really can’t remember anything. I’m sorry.”
Sasuke breathed in deeply to push away the tears which were threatening to fall. “We should get going. The restaurant’s a good forty minute drive from here.” The two walked down to the bus stop in silence. Neither one knew what to say to the other, and they were both feeling a bit confused by the situation. Naruto glanced over at the man who had been his best friend, rival, and idol since they were both small boys. His feelings for Sasuke were strong, but he had never considered doing anything with him. In fact, Naruto had never even thought about being with a boy. He never thought about sex at all. It was always thoughts of how he could be a better ninja, so that he could protect the ones he loved. No there was no way that he could ever be intimate with a boy, there was just no way. He had to get back home to Konoha, to where everything made sense to him and nothing was turned upside down. “Naruto, for the sake of our friends ... please don’t let them know that you’ve forgotten things.”
“I promise.” Anything to get rid of that sad expression on Sasuke’s face. The thought that he would do anything startled Naruto somewhat. He hadn’t expected to have so strong a desire to maintain Sasuke’s happiness, but that was just because they were best friends. Yes, Naruto realized with a touch of relief, that was all it was. Their friendship was causing this odd fluttering in his chest. It had nothing to do with being attracted to him, because he wasn’t.
“Tsunade-sama! Tsunade-sama!” Shizune came running into the fifth Hokage’s office carrying the two communicators in her fisted hand.
“What is it Shizune?” Tsunade had had an uneasy feeling all day, but couldn’t figure out why she had felt worried, until now. The two communicators were all she needed to see. Naruto was gone.
“Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun ... they -- they disappeared.” Tears were flowing freely down her rounded face as Shizune told the entirety of the story to the Hokage.
“Damn,” Tsunade whispered. She took in a calming breath, after a handful of years as hokage, she had learned that allowing her emotions to take over was very dangerous. “Send out a rescue party. Send the leader of Anbu to see me. I must speak with him immediately. These two must be found. Even if it’s only their bodies ...”
“Yes, ma’am.” Shizune scurried off to set Tsunade’s orders into motion. Tsunade sat down at her desk and stared at the two communicators. There was no way that the two top nins in the village had succumbed to the same mysterious power which had lured so many other innocent victims, was there?
“Please, both of you be safe ...” Tsunade’s soft prayer drifted out the windows on the cool spring breeze. geovisit();