Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hybrid Host Club ❯ Chapter 9

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Hybrid Host Club Chapter 9

Six weeks, six surprisingly enjoyable weeks had passed since the day the Dobe had first entered his home and things had begun to change.

Sakura, his personal assistance, had prodded, poked, wheedled and whined in the hope of getting him to confess to the secret girlfriend he was leaving on time, everyday, from the office to see. But Sasuke had kept his silence, enjoying seeing her squirm with the need to know.

Sakura had been a very dedicated assistant since she had first started with him and, though at the beginning she had been slightly misguided in her interest in him, they had eventually come to an understanding. She was currently dating someone working in the administration department. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t still overly nosy about his life in general, and gossiped far too often with Itachi’s secretary, Ino. Though chatting could be misconstrued as verbal volleys in an ongoing skirmish between the two women.

She was normally a voracious little thing when it came to gossip and the changes in his normally unwavering routine was food for the gossip wagon. There was a small bonus to her tenacity, he had been driving her steadily over the cliff into madness with his silence. However tonight appeared to be different. Sasuke could admit to a burgeon curiosity when she didn’t immediately start in on questioning him upon opening his office door, instead she smiled but didn’t speak. He eyed her suspiciously as he closed his office door with a soft thud.

He walked past her desk, eyebrow arched questioningly as he hung his black cashmere overcoat over the arm holding his weighty leather briefcase loaded with papers for this evenings work and with the fox’s new assignments. He brushed past her desk in silence, eyes turning from her sprightly green to stare down the hallway at the brushed metal elevator doors, his route to escape for the next twelve hours. There was no wheedling, no whining or complaining in that almost childish tone to follow him down the hallway. The only sounds filling the space was the soft clack of Sakura’s touch typing and the shush of his black leather loafers skimming across the deep pile grey carpet as he approached the elevator followed by the muted ping as he pressed the elevator call button.

The hair at his nape stood on end, that uncomfortable sensation of eyes on his back all too familiar. But he knew it was Sakura’s gaze and knew she would not do him harm as other’s who’d given him that same discomfited sensation had in the past. Sakura’s gaze was unwavering as he waited for the elevator to climb the fifty stories to his floor, though no words followed her silent vigil. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but he refused to turn around until he was inside the elevator. Sasuke waited in silence, eyes fixed on steel doors, the uncomfortable feeling of eyes boring into the back of his head as familiar to him as breathing. Sasuke had been watched by people all his life.

The elevator arrived with a soft ding, the doors sliding open silently to reveal an empty carriage waiting to be filled. He stepped in, turning on the ball of his foot and catching pale green eyes with his own midnight black. Sasuke watched Sakura as the elevator doors slowly began to close, there was something in her gaze at that moment, something knowing as she called down the empty hallway just as the doors were about to close in an oddly chirpy tone for the secretary, “Good night, Mr Uchiha.”

The doors closed on her voice and he felt something churn in his belly, the knowing tone of her voice disquieting. Did she know where he was going? How would she have found out? Sasuke snorted dismissively as he pressed the button that would take him to the underground garage and freedom, he had been careful, almost too careful because he didn’t want him to know.

Sasuke knew Sakura though, he had done extensive background checks on her before allowing her to work in the Uchiha building. There had been to many incidents in the past when those checks hadn’t been rigorous enough and an Uchiha was always cautious. Sakura had passed muster and Sasuke trusted her to keep anything truly important to herself.

His trust in her had been well founded, otherwise everyone would know about his involvement with the Art Gallery by now. If she hadn’t been able to find out about it and keep quiet about it, she wasn’t the person he thought he’d employed. He dismissed it and her from his mind and watched the floor numbers scroll down slowly as he descended to the underground parking garage directly below the building.

Sasuke had another evening of intriguing company to enjoy after all. Even if he’d spend most of it at the Host Club whilst his Dobe worked the floor. He knew the fox would stop by on his breaks to ask numerous questions about his studies, trying to slyly sneak in the odd question about him at the same time. Sasuke had already been planning to taunt the fox by answering his questions with more questions. It would make the fox work through to his own conclusion about the work at least and intriguing him on a more personal note as well. The end result would be the same as so many other evenings Sasuke had enjoyed in the company of the crafty fox. The Dobe would work himself into a tumultuous mess of anger, frustration and embarrassment, scarred cheeks tinged a delightful shade of crimson.

It was both a pleasure and a torture for Sasuke to watch. The sight always leaving him with a smug half smile curling his lips, heat flooding his vein’s and his cock straining against his trousers under the concealing folds of the orange tablecloths. His mind filled with images of his rambunctious fox flushed with something far more interesting than anger and indignation.

That image filled his mind with little impetus, making his cock throb with interest behind his tailored charcoal pinstripe trousers. Sasuke forced the image from his mind, breathing long, deep and even to get his lusts back in check. His reputation within these walls was sacrosanct to him, it was the key to keeping his family from interfering even further into his life. He could not let it be marred by something so carnal as lust.

To the management and staff he was the cool, collected vice president of business management, the only person who knew what he could truly be like was Itachi. But there was no fear of his brother informing anyone, Itachi played a long and close game, hoarding secrets like treasures for use when most effective. He was like their Father in that regard at least. Whereas Sasuke was nothing like the elder Uchiha and glad of it, though sometimes he could admit that he still wanted something from the man though he knew he would never receive it. Sasuke shoved the thought away like a hot brand threatening to burn him on the inside, setting his mind on a different track just to get away from the poisonous memories that hid in a deep, dark corner of his psyche.

Sasuke had a fairly predictable, but still illuminating evening ahead of him that he would not deny himself the pleasure of enjoying to the fullest and he had the tantalising addition of having the Dobe’s company in his home overnight as he had planned for them to go out on another expedition that required an early start. Sasuke had found the key to keeping the fox interested in his never ending studies, an odd reward system of taking periodic trips to see some of the city's most architecturally diverse buildings.

He knew that he had an enjoyable evening ahead, he could guarantee that various members of the Host Club would pause in their work to speak with him at one point or another, all of them having seen and heard tail of the game he was playing with their favourite fox.

And then they’d be going back to his flat.

There had been some close calls where the game had almost come crashing down, his goals derailed but with some quick thinking on a few key persons parts the secret remained and the challenge only grew more enticing to Sasuke. He was determined to win the fox’s name and the trust that he knew would go with it.

The latest incident had occurred when Naruto’s so called friend and sometime torment Sai had almost ended their game. It had been Iruka’s quick thinking that had managed to muffle the young cat hybrid’s voice before Sasuke had heard the name he’d been calling out. Though Sasuke had caught the beginning of Sai’s question regarding the Dobe’s ass and why Sasuke hadn’t just fucked the fox and had done with it. The comment had been a surprise considering everyone else had been so over protective of the Dobe. Some of them had even tried unsuccessfully to threaten him into compliance clearly forgetting just who they were dealing with.

Iruka had later explained a bit more about Sai’s childhood, the cat had been badly treated and his emotional experience was very limited, which meant he didn’t take social cues at all and didn’t understand the subtleties of social interactions with others. It was both refreshing and mildly irritating to Sasuke, the freedom to say whatever you pleased under the guise of learning social etiquette, countered by the constant questions and forthright opinions he had been enduring ever since. And no matter how irritating that may cause the man to be, it was just how he was and Iruka had explained that they were trying to train the cat in the social niceties that everyone else had learnt since birth.

Safe to say that Sai had become a relatively regular guest at his table and an irritation. Though it seemed to have softened some of the other hosts and regular clients to see him tolerating the cat and even answering some of his more benign questions with depth and Sai’s social schooling in mind. Sasuke had even considered introducing the male to his brother, he was certain that Sai would be an interesting tribulation for Itachi, though he knew he could never introduce the two for fear of his own personal dalliance reaching the wrong ears.

Some of the other host’s now openly stopped at his regular table, others feigning a drink delivery with scowling faces to ask him questions and gauge his interest in the blondball of energy they all seemed to, however grudgingly, care for. The depth of their care for the fox was interesting, someone with his bright and open personality often drew people, but from some of the small things that had been let slip, the quiet comments, shadowed gazes, his blond had been through some things that Sasuke wasn’t happy not knowing about. But as soon as he tried to open them up further they withdrew.

Sasuke knew it wasn’t fair to ask the Dobe’s family, and that is what they were to him, the fox had stated so a number of times. But he needed to know, needed to understand and avoid the potential landmines that may arise in the future from his lack of knowledge. His very nature required him to prepare and organise to an almost obsessive degree. Sasuke would never be a ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ kind of person, it just wasn’t in his nature. But he allowed the fox’s family to withdraw, not pressing for answers, because he also understood loyalty to an almost painful degree. He wasn’t family, therefore he did not have their loyalty - he hadn’t earned it yet. Sasuke wasn’t sure what it would take or if, in the end, it would all be changed with a few words from one certain male, but he could wait.

Itachi wasn’t the only one who understood the merits of a long term game.

Sasuke had managed to insinuate himself into the Dobe’s personal life over the course of the last six weeks. He visited the club every night, extracting tidbits of information from Kakashi about the fox’s work schedule, planning the dobe’s lessons and his own time around the other male. In those first two weeks Sasuke had been glared at, shouted at and otherwise harangued by various members of of the Dobe’s extended family. But as each began to realise that he wasn’t intimidated by them and wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon they had grown to tolerate his visits. They knew that there friend was getting the lesson’s he both needed and wanted from him.

In the four weeks hence Sasuke had made sure to be in attendance every night that he could for a few hours. The Dobe would scowl at him but would still bring him a drink and the menu as well as a passel of questions he demanded the answers to and Sasuke dutifully managed not to answer. Sasuke was a firm believer in searching out your own answers, in developing your own understanding of the world and those things within it. He pointed the dobe to the right texts and the papers he’d need but didn’t want to influence his individual understanding and the subject. Developing ones own understanding and personal view made a project one’s own. Sasuke wanted the Dobe to work for the answer, to fully understand the meaning of having those answer by finding the information and putting it together on his own.

One evening, just over a week ago, Iruka had come to sit with him for a meal, looking a lot better than the first time Sasuke had seen the man again after their years apart. He had to grudgingly share the credit for that though, between Kakashi and himself they had managed to get Iruka to sit down and eat something every night. They diverted his attentions from his constant workload with anything and everything they could think of. On that day Iruka had smiled at him and labelled Sasuke a permanent fixture in the club, unable to leave now he’d come and found something that teased his interest and tweaked at the tail of his pride.

Sasuke wasn’t sure whether it was a compliment or not.

Iruka stopped by his table often, sharing meals at Sasuke’s insistence. He could see the strain adding creases to the corners of Iruka’s eyes, attempting to age him beyond his twenty-eight years. He acknowledged Kakashi’s presence with a cursory nod, the wolf was not interested in polite chit-chat generally, but did give him veiled hints sometimes. But Kakashi always attended their table personally when Iruka settled in for some much needed nourishment.

Sasuke had taken an interest in the wolf’s feigned nonchalance with regards to Iruka, his interest was obvious to a person who’d spent most of his childhood analysing people and deconstructing them like intricate puzzles.He was still working on his fox’s puzzle but Iruka was easy to decode, it helped that he’d know him in the past. Kakashi was a different story however. There was a lot more to that man than his obvious interest in Iruka and that kept Sasuke on edge with him, still gauging the wolf. Kakashi always ensured that Iruka always had extra food. He was always challenging Iruka, roping him into confrontations that led the man into doing exactly the opposite of what Kakashi had originally suggested, and therefore the best thing for him. It was an interesting bi-play to watch between the two men. Kakashi was skilled at being subtle in the most forward way possible, and Sasuke knew the wolf was aware of his constant, watchful eyes.

The first time he’d watched their peculiar little dance Sasuke had never seen Iruka react with such fervent anger or seen the deep blush that had coloured his cheeks afterwards. Iruka had been clearly embarrassed at being drawn into Kakashi’s game but there was a hint of something else, something more interesting underneath, pleasure. It was clear Kakashi got under Iruka’s skin, but as the week’s passed he and Kakashi had come to an understanding in the game they played. As long as Kakashi didn’t interfere with his pursuit of the fox then Sasuke was willing to remain on the sidelines of Kakashi’s game with Iruka - as long as no harm came to his sensei. The agreement had passed without words, a staring match that had ended in a tie, a raised silver grey eyebrow, a silent nod and that crescent eyed smile and the deal had been set in motion.

It was obvious to Sasuke, as he watched Iruka’s shoulders stiffening and the sharpening of Kakashi’s mismatched eyes, that there was something happening between the two men that they either didn’t want to share with everyone or they hadn’t quite come to terms with yet. Even when it was so blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes. Sasuke wasn’t certain how he felt about that, but he could at least agree with the wolf’s need to ensure Iruka’s continued good health, so he let them continue their odd version of courting.

Sasuke’s talks with Iruka continued over their meals, Iruka filling him in on various projects he was working on in the seemingly endless battle to have the hybrid species acknowledged by society. Sasuke could see that it was going to be a long and majoritively unrewarding process and felt that he could make a significant contribution to the effort. The Uchiha name alone held a great deal of weight after all and he wasn’t above using it for far more honourable purposes than his Father. The other boon was that he felt it would add weight to his endeavors to snare one deliciously tempting little fox.

So, even though Iruka said he was doing more than enough already, Sasuke repeatedly insisted that the other man should share the burden. Not something that he would normally do but he thought what Iruka and the others was doing was justified. His early research after first coming to the club had shown him a great deal of injustice and, unfortunately it seemed, his family had likely played some part in it at one time or another. The Uchiha were a major political force in Japan with a great deal of weight behind them after all.

Sasuke had never agreed with the way that the hybrids were treated, and after learning more that feeling had only grown, though he knew it was partially biased by a certain fox and his old teacher. Sasuke was all for the strongest survive, it was one of the Uchiha creeds, but if you’re not even given the chance to be a survivor, to push the boundaries and excel, how could you be anything but weak? He’d watched for years as the hybrids had been pushed around, had seen frustration, hopelessness and antagonism grow between humans and hybrids.

He could feel the insidious undercurrents that lingered just out of reach. If they continued to walk this path, confrontation was inevitable, and a bloody shadow would be left in the wake of their passing. He was a survivalist certainly, but he could recognise that what was being planned within these walls may be the first act that would ripple across the world. So he was dogged in his pursuit of information and entrance to their circle, he wouldn’t be displeased to see less of the fatigue that was carved around Iruka’s eyes and mouth either.

And finally his stubborn persistence had garnered recognition from the stubborn man.

In the last few days Iruka had finally broken down and asked what skills he could bring to the table, knowing full well that an Uchiha’s education and Sasuke’s intelligence meant he would make a formidable ally in his endeavors. Iruka had placed a small caveat on Sasuke’s activities that pertained to a certain foxes education taking precedence. Unbeknownst to Iruka that had been Sasukes intention all along. The fox, his fox, was his priority at the moment, but he was Uchiha and could handle more than one task at a time. He thought that his former sensei didn’t quite understand the nature of an Uchiha and had spent too long with normal people. He would always excel at anything he set his mind to - it was in his blood.

Sasuke had no doubt that Iruka had had to confer with his associates on the matter. This kind of a project was far too big for Iruka alone and Sasuke had already analysed and discarded hundreds of individuals that could and would assist in such a revolutionary plot. Sasuke had been piecing bit’s of different conversations together that he hadn’t been meant to overhear, factoring in his contact’s at work and the background in business he’d picked up from his Father and brother. He had determined that there were three possible people that would have the finances to back this large a scale project and had the social and political inclinations to do it as well as the contacts within Government, business and anywhere else they may need to be and the savvy to hide it in plain sight.

Sasuke couldn’t wait to be introduced to his future co-conspirator’s, because he already knew they were trustworthy individuals with impressive backgrounds and a history to match - that and they didn’t trust his Father at all.

Sasuke’s sole focus currently was on the fox’s education and Iruka’s continued good health, he could wait, he knew how to play the long game, even when Itachi said he didn’t. Sasuke ignored the irritation that buzzed in the back of his mind like an enraged wasp, shutting it down quickly before it intruded on more interesting thoughts. His brother and subsequent family could wait to be churned over later, at home in the dark, where frustration, anger and emptiness could be released but remain hidden.

Sasuke pulled a picture of the fox to mind, that familiar head of blond spikes, smiling sky blue eyes, fitted shirt and striped orange and black waistcoat over plain black trousers, soft rust coloured tail just visible behind him. Sasuke hummed softly in approval of the well fitted garments that showed off the fox’s height, tapered waist and swishing tail. This image was the fox he saw the most. The one he spent his evenings tutoring and watching. Admiring the firm curve of his ass when he leaned over to proffer a drink. The one who waited on everyone but him. The one he wished would wait on him and would reveal his name so he could purr it into a shivering ear before gently teasing the thin fold of skin with his teeth.

Instead Sasuke had to be patient, had to find some measure of contentment in the pattern he and the Dobe were settling into. His thoughts constantly straying from his teaching to the fullness of the fox’s lip, the softness of his skin, the pert nipple barely hidden behind bright orange cotton or the interesting bulge behind snug jeans. Their lesson’s were sometimes a blissful kind of torment for Sasuke, a lesson in control that was sometimes so close to breaking he felt stirred into a frantic kind of need.

So much had changed since that first meeting, so much and so little. Sasuke sighed softly, finger’s pinching the bridge of his nose briefly, before memory’s filled his mind as he descended in the elevator on the way to the parking garage beneath the building.

The fox had left his apartment late that first evening with that bomb blasted look parent’s often get at the end of a long day at some amusement park with a child. Sasuke’s lips curled slightly at the corners at the memory on the Dobe’s face as he slipped from the elevator and out into the sub-basement parking garage.

Sasuke walked with confident strides across the open expanse of concrete, noting that a good number of cars were still parked in their designated spaces, as he considered his Dobe’s reaction.

He could understand to some extent why the fox had appeared so surprised, shocked and exhausted. The other man had run a rolling gambit of emotions over the course of the day after all. They had spent the morning at the art gallery, confronted by a pushy and highly contemptible little man at the ticket desk. The afternoon that followed had led to a confrontation with and subsequent adulation of his Mother. Then, in the evening, the fox had been informed that he would receive the education he’d desperately wanted and had subsequently been thrown headlong into said education.

He had grilled the Dobe thoroughly to see what the man already knew and what he would need to learn. He had needed to have a good understanding of the Dobe’s education so far so he could put together a curriculum that would be based on his own University education. Sasuke had every intention of giving the fox everything he himself had been given on a platter. Sasuke had had gone so far as to contact his old professors to make sure he had everything he needed for the task ahead whilst tactfully avoiding awkward questions by saying that he was refreshing his memory as it had been some years since he’d studied and he was taking on a potential project.

Sasuke now spent five out of seven evenings a week at the club teaching the Dobe in whatever spare moments the blond had. The other two evenings were spent in his apartment. He’d return from work, change and start making dinner, knowing the fox would appear about thirty minutes after he arrived back, either having just finished a shift or having had the day off. They ate quickly, the fox constantly complaining and insisting that instant ramen was perfectly suitable for dinner and that he didn’t have to make all this fancy stuff.

His lip twitched up once more at the memory of the Dobe’s wild gesticulations that always came with the pronouncement. The first time the fox had mentioned instant ramen, Sasuke had assumed his cooking was being criticised and been suitably irritated with the idiot for being so ungrateful. But as the meal’s continued and the comments along with them Sasuke came to realise that the blond was growing more relaxed around him, but apparently the food he prepared made the fox feel uncomfortable.

Sasuke had drawn on the limited evidence he had for the fox’s discomfort, knowing now that calling the Dobe on it would just make it worse and get the fox’s hackles up. He believed that some of the dishes he prepared either reminded the Dobe of something he didn’t want to remember or that he somehow felt that Sasuke was mocking him with the range and quality of the dishes. Sasuke had no doubt that it could be a weird and twisted concoction of both as the fox was a convoluted and rather changeable character.

So, as a small compromise, once a week Sasuke cooked fresh ramen, after requesting his Mother's recipe without the Dobe’s knowledge, but with his Mother’s delighted laugh in his ear instead. Sasuke refused to eat that instant rubbish,an accumulation of salt, miscellaneous E numbers and unhealthy additives, he’d rather make it fresh - at least then he knew what was in it!

He’d found the fox’s shocked expression the first time he’d served it up undeniably amusing, but it had also stirred the heat inside him into a conflagration that coursed along his veins like molten lava, searing his insides with the need to take, claim, possess and devour what was his. Sasuke snorted softly, shaking his head in self recrimination as he slid into the driver’s seat, key twisting in the ignition, the engine turning over and rumbling to life. That heat was his constant companion and there was only one person he wanted to assuage it inside. Sasuke’s lips pulled down in a grimace as he tried to push all those volatile emotions to the back of his mind, he needed to focus.

He had a lesson to teach the dobe today and the thought of the fox staying in his home overnight would be torment enough without adding to the growing pile of log’s on the bonfire he’d already set ablaze. Sasuke sighed softly into the quiet confines of his car, leant back but the key in the ignition and turned the engine over. The car rumbled to life and Sasuke closed the lid on the emotions that had been his constant companions since meeting the fox, he had no doubt’s that they would come roaring back out of the mental cage he’d put them in later. But for right now he needed to drive.