Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Secret Love ❯ Boredom ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: All original Naruto characters, settings, plot etc. are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. No copyright infringement is intended and I make no profit from this story. … Boredom

It felt strange. Watching Naruto sleep. He was so different than when he was awake. So much…quieter. Not in the literal sense, since he was snoring rather loudly, but...there was something much softer about him when he slept. Something much less annoying. I can't remember how long I'd been sitting by the bed, leaning on the side of the soft mattress, trying to ignore the dust that was clinging to my clothes.

I'd needed to have a shower, but that would come later. Right now I needed to wake the idiot up. I had let him sleep far later than myself. But perhaps that was just to stop him from complaining and giving me a headache. Anyway…it certainly didn't take much to wake him up after all.

"Naruto!" And with a start, he was awake. He sprung up from the bed as though he were being attacked, and perhaps he thought that was the situation. "Get dressed. We've got papers to fill out." I didn't wait for a reply from him as he looked at me with large sleepy eyes. Hn, dobe.

I made my way back to the living area, seating myself back on the blanketed floor where I'd slept. There was less dust there and I avoided thinking of that stuff being on my clothes. I was glad we'd seen that washing machine in the Kitchen. I'd make it work. I took the papers from an inside pocket of my over-shirt, they were slightly crinkled at the edges but I smoothed them out on the floor regardless; one facing me and one facing opposite me, for when Naruto arrived.

If I could I would have filled them out myself, but I didn't think Naruto would appreciate it and he'd likely mess up my plans again. Besides, I had other things to do than take these back to school and be introduced to their intelligence system. I couldn't care less. I'd send Naruto whilst I shopped around town and cleaned the flat.

Eventually, after what felt like forever, Naruto emerged from the bedroom, his horrendous clothing looking – if possible – worse than before. I'd have to wash those as well; it looked like he'd spilled something on them from the night before - a large stain adorned the front of his black top. What a loser. At least he knew what was expected of him since he took a seat in front of me and picked up the papers.

"So what's the school like, Sasuke? Is it cool? – probably not, since it's school – did you see anybody who looked nice?"

I snorted, "Everybody looked nice," I made sure to say the word with as much disgust as I felt. "Now, you said that you told them we were step brothers; we'll have the same last name then." I neatly wrote down my first name in the first box and pondered on our last name for a moment; I wanted it to be something that fitted nicely with both our names but also something that was not too daring; it would need to be 'normal'.

I wrote down 'Sato' and watched as Naruto did the same. Sato was a popular last name in the civilian world, I'd read that once, though I don't know why they bother with such insignificant matters. Nevertheless the next question asked our date of birth, I assumed Naruto would know his so I took no time to write my own down. The next few questions were also a cinch, asking our gender, the address of where we were living – I had to tell Naruto, since he'd not bothered to take note of this residence – the home telephone number; we didn't have one, special educational needs; I wanted to tell Naruto to put 'yes' but thought better of it; it would be childish to start a fight and I didn't even know where the urge had come from.

The problem emerged when it came to the details of parents with parental responsibility. I ignored the tug inside my chest. How were we supposed to answer that without looking suspicious? "Naruto." He seemed to snap out of a daze when I called his name, and only then did I realise how silent it was in the room. "Sasuke…" We stared at each other for a long moment, and I wondered where the feeling was; it usually showed up at times like these. But it was nowhere in sight and for that I was glad, since it made things all the more easy to dismiss the heavy atmosphere and continue what I was saying.

"You told them we were orphans." He nodded. "Did you mention anything about them?" He shook his head. "Then it's not applicable." And with that I filled in all the boxes with an 'N/A', watching as Naruto copied in his messy handwriting. The next asked for details of any siblings attending the school, or 'educational establishment' as they put it. We wrote each other down.

The last question was of multiple choice; three to be exact, and it asked which establishment we wished to be placed. I wasn't sure what that meant but I had a good idea that it was something to do with there being three buildings. I told Naruto he'd have to ask when he handed this to the headmaster and got the tour around the premises. Naturally, after me mentioning about him being the one to go, there was a group of questions thrown at me, each excitable and nerve grating. I didn't respond to any of them. Though I had to wonder if Naruto cared, since the voice continued to blabber on regardless of my silence.

Thankfully, it took me less time that I'd anticipated to throw Naruto out with the forms. His questions still unanswered. He'd find everything out when he got there. I smirked at the thought of the annoying headmaster being Naruto's guide - If it was the headmaster that would show him around – if he was going to be shown around at all. It's not like the guy had said he'd show me around, I just assumed he would since the three buildings had to be significant to the school.

I almost sighed as I turned to look around the house once more, this time searching in cupboards to see what we actually had – possession-wise. As it turned out, like I'd assumed, we had next to nothing. First of all I'd searched for black bags, which I found in the large storage room downstairs. Then I went to clear out. I had found a few old towels and blankets - one of which I had slept under, useless things really, with holes and stains all over them - in the living room. They'd been the first things to go in the bag. Next I'd rummaged through the empty kitchen only to find it was just that. Empty. To think I'd expected that to be the room with the most useless old rubbish.

Next had been the bedroom which, surprisingly, held the most useless old rubbish. The long wardrobe by the wall kept not only moth-eaten clothes, but also a number of personal belongings. I didn't know whose belongings they were so I didn't throw them away; instead I put them in a separate black bag with a neat little knot at the top, loose in case I found something else. It wouldn't do to get in trouble for throwing away other people's belongings, it's not like I cared. The clothes came with me as I trailed the bag through the apartment.

The next room was the bathroom, and I have to admit I didn't look forward to it. Again though, this place was surprising as not only did it hold little to no useless old rubbish, but it also had a few bottles of disinfectant sprays as well as a first aid kit. It had been clean and fresh so I'd put it aside for later, along with the selection of cleaning materials.

Once I was through with collecting the mess, I tossed everything into a large bin out the back of the building, I'd only realised that there was something round the back when I'd gone searching for the bag itself. Up until then I had thought the back of this place went straight out into the woods. Other than that I was done with the flat. It was time to do some shopping.

Not proper shopping. That was for later. This was only for supplies I'd need whilst cleaning the apartment. That small selection I'd found stashed in the bathroom simply would not do the job. And I was not going to live in a house so dirty…messy wasn't as bad but I couldn't stand dirt. I'm not sure how I ever could stand living under ground with Orochimaru. It was always filthy down there.

I didn't bother searching for the best shop around; I simply went into the first I saw that looked like it would sell cleaning supplies. It did. I was thankful I hadn't needed to go somewhere else. I didn't want Naruto to return before I was finished. He'd just get in the way. While I was there I picked up some paint as well…just in case I finished early. Not that I really cared…but it was boring in that place on my own. Not that I wanted the idiots company…I just wanted the place to look…nice. I bought toiletries too, because, of course, I would be even more unclean after I worked on the apartment.

I started with the Kitchen, working my way around the doors and leaving the living room till last; it was the biggest and I had to walk through it to get to the other rooms so it was logical to finish there. And so I set to work. Washing down the walls and floor before scrubbing everything, I wanted to make sure everything was spotless. I even polished the window and the wooden cupboards when I realised they were wooden. They'd been so caked in mould and dust that I'd failed to notice that before.

And I have to say, one thing I did expect was that the room would look brand new when I was through with it. And it did. Once up to perfection I moved onto the next room, and the next, and the next. I found myself wondering how Naruto was doing with that guy – Mr Okido. Surely he'd find the man as infuriating as I had, perhaps even more so. Because that headmaster could even be louder than Naruto, and jollier too. What a nightmare. We had to go to that guy's school.

It angered me what he'd said too. That everyone in this town was happy. What a load of…well it certainly couldn't be true that's for sure. It was impossible that so many people could all be living fulfilling lives, wanting for nothing because they were all happy. Because there must have been about one hundred people in this little village. They couldn't all be happy. People were never happy. I'd never met anyone genuinely happy. Perhaps that's what made this place so strange to me. And it certainly was strange. That boy who'd sat by the bar yesterday had been the most normal I'd seen yet, and even he had been soaked in this weirdness for so long it had sunk deep onto his pores. He'd stank of it.

Thinking back to yesterday brought the feeling back. It was so sudden and unexpected that I actually dropped the brush I was using at the time. I had an inkling as to why it had shown up. Damn Naruto and his touching. The blond had been seriously out of line yesterday. I don't know what he was thinking but I hope the thought never crosses his mind again. Or I might break his nose. Hn, that would be satisfying. It might even make me feel happy. The fact that I was being sarcastic seemed strange to me. It had been a long time since I'd seen 'funny'.

Naruto's laughing yesterday, now that I think back on it, had sounded so pure, so lively, so real. It had been a long time since I'd heard genuine laughter like that. Though thinking of his laugh made the feeling approach my stomach and I quickly changed my train of thought. Not very far though. Why did this keep happening to me? This thing – whatever it may be – was one of the most bizarre experiences I'd ever had. It was just so unpredictable. Sometimes it would come again and again repeatedly at the mere thought of blond hair or blue eyes. Then sometimes it was so scarce I forgot it even existed.

I'd like that. For it not to exist. These past few days had been so confusing to me, I was really getting fed up with it. I turned my thoughts back to more practical things. I sat on the couch, the one thing I hadn't managed to repair completely – the bed had been almost immaculate under all that mossy dust – and closed my eyes. I didn't feel tired, but I was stopping for only a moment before I'd consider starting on the painting. I'd thought of the floors but they were bearable for the moment. The wood was stained but in a nice way. I could live with it. We had little money as it was.

The walls though, were a different story. Certainly not bearable in the slightest. There had been what I presumed was wallpaper on before hand, so I'd peeled the remainder off and it now looked like something you'd find in an Orochimaru Hideout. I've seen enough of them to say they were disgusting. Like black dirt and grime running around the walls. I'd cleaned them all but they were stained. They'd need a few coats of paint.

So I set to work on my next task. The walls. All of them. I'd picked colours that Naruto would probably call predictable, but I didn't care. For the bedroom it was a deep red, the Kitchen white, the bathroom too, and the living room dark blue. It took no time at all to apply the first coat and then I was rendered bored while the paint dried. The expression 'to watch paint dry' acquired a whole new meaning. And as boredom does, it forced me into thinking again and to avoid the feeling I thought of my messenger raven.

He would have reached Konoha shortly after I'd sent him, certainly before we'd arrived here, yet there was no reply. They had not destroyed him – I would have felt that – so I supposed they would be considering their options. They had very little. Obviously the Hokage would be furious, but would she risk disbelief at the cost of Naruto's life? Probably not. I'd heard how fond she'd grown of him. I shouldn't have expected her to send any money, though, but unconsciously I had hoped. I didn't like the thought of working here. It needed a lot of cleaning downstairs. The Hokage and the rest of the Konohan idiots had probably dubbed me a liar and decided that Naruto was already deceased. Hn, they might even throw him a funeral.

I found the thought humorous, for some disturbing reason, but I just couldn't picture Naruto's funeral. Funerals were bleak, deathly, cold and dreary – they were upsetting and stiff and everything Naruto was not. I couldn't picture it at all in my mind. I tried but a flash of bright blond hair with deathly pale skin in an open coffin and the feeling made another appearance. Shit.

This one was by far the worst dose I'd had of this thing. It stung not only my chest, but also my eyes, my stomach churned and I wanted to scream. Stupid feeling. Why so much today? Why was it giving me so much hassle? I gritted my teeth against the pain. This one was so much worse. The others had never been like this. More emotional, perhaps, but never painful. Not like this one.

And it was in that pain that I curled myself up on the sofa, my arms wrapped securely round my middle and my eyes screwed tightly shut. I didn't sleep, but my mind certainly did. I expected that when I came round Naruto would have returned, but he hadn't. The flat was still empty and I was still alone. I liked things better that way. I didn't need other people. They were just entertainment. I painted the second coat.

By the time I had finished everything it was bound to be afternoon and I was really starting to wonder how the dobe was taking so long…just a simple tour could not take this amount of time. But whatever he was doing, it seemed I would have to entertain myself. Perhaps a shower would waste some time. I'd planned to wait until Naruto came back, because then I could wash our clothes together. But I'd rather have a shower now. I needed one.

So I left my clothing in a pile and quickly entered the shower. Probably spending longer in than was absolutely necessary. It was as I had just finished with the shower that I heard the tell-tale footsteps that signalled Naruto's return. He had sure taken his time hadn't he?

"Sasuke?" Maybe he had noticed what I'd done to the flat…

"That Mr Okido is awesome! He really was so nice, and he showed me around and everything, introduced me to the sensei's and all that–" Or maybe not…I quickly wrapped a towel around my waist - I had found some of those with the cleaning supplies under the sink – deciding to let myself drip dry, before stepping out of the steamy bathroom. I had noticed earlier, when cleaning, that the lock on the door was faulty, and knowing Naruto he might have walked in on me. I didn't want that; the idiot would make a scene.

His chatter about the oh-so-great Mr Okido halted when I entered the living room. I had enough time to warn the feeling to stay away before I turned my attention to the blond. To say he was staring might have actually been an understatement. If he had been a cartoon character I could imagine his eyes popping out of their sockets, his jaw hitting the floor and an alarm sounding in the background. The thought made me snort which seemed to pull Naruto back to reality almost as much as it did me.

"T-teme! Put some clothes on! God! What are you doing?" And I almost snorted again, but smirking seemed to make him even angrier since his face reddened and his eyes took on a new light. I'd never seen that look in his eyes.

"I was taking a shower, idiot. You should too. And my clothes are about to go in the washer, so deal with it." At that his face got even brighter and I congratulated myself on winding him up. Nothing was more amusing than an angry Naruto. But I should have seen that something was wrong when instead of screaming a reply, he merely stuttered something indulgent before rushing past me and straight into the bathroom. Hn, maybe he wasn't feeling well.

"Pass your clothes out when they're off and I'll put them in with mine." He didn't answer but a few moments late a pile was dumped outside the door.

Hn, who would have thought Naruto was self-conscious. I almost snorted; I was too gorgeous to be self-conscious. I knew I was good looking so why would I worry about people thinking I wasn't? I didn't care what people thought at all. But Naruto? I wouldn't have imagined someone with so much confidence would make such a big deal about showing his body to me; a boy; someone who had exactly the same as him. Because I did have exactly the same. We were both completely normal. Back when we were team-mates we had visited public baths often enough on missions to see exactly what the other had. I knew there was little difference. Yes, that was a few years ago, but puberty wouldn't make him abnormal. Right?

I should probably stop thinking about Naruto like that. I had only just realized how I had been thinking and it was probably not how I should be thinking of him. Why did I even look at him back then? I certainly had not been interested. My vision had simply wandered by accident.

After loading the washing machine – it gave me no trouble – I took my seat on the couch again, though this time I wasn't as bored. It was sort of weird, that. Because the circumstances were the same, I still had nothing to do. I listened to the sound of water running and felt relaxed. I decided not to question such details – they would only irritate me further.

Naruto didn't finish his shower for a long time. Naturally, in that time, my mind wandered. But this time I only thought of things with little importance. The heat in this place was phenomenal. Even the sand village did not have this heat. But it was a wet heat; definitely more tropical; the smell too, was tropical. I didn't like it. Not just because I despised sweating – I burned. Very easily. All Uchiha's did. It was genetic, I was sure.

Another thing which was genetic was my height. I remember, when I was a small child, I had looked up at my aniki and though Itachi was the tallest boy in the world. My father was a man; he didn't count. I soon learned that was not the case. Even my parents were short in comparison to other adult's out-with the Uchiha clan. We were just short people; we grew fast, yes, but it didn't last…I shouldn't speak like that…saying 'we'…sometimes my mind runs away from reality. I don't blame it.

What Naruto had said on our way here; about him over taking me. It was probably true. I'd more than likely reached the limit of my growth at this point. Not that it was a bad thing. Being short drastically helped my fighting technique. Not that it would matter as long as we were here.

That was something I had not considered. We would not be able to train because it was not worth getting caught for. We'd both loose a lot of what we had worked so hard to gain; our stealth, our chakra control, our techniques would worsen instead of growing. All in all; it would not be good. Great. Just another perk about this place. I hoped Naruto wouldn't realize anytime soon.

Once again, I wondered what was taking him so long. Showers surely did not take that long. And that idiot was usually too eager to take his time doing anything. What would he be like in school? I'd barely noticed him back in the ninja academy, and when I had it was only due to his idiocy. I never believed I'd be on a team with a nuisance like him. I hadn't thought he'd become a ninja at all.

But really, what was he doing in there? See if he had broken something…there would be hell to pay. I know I may have seemed impatient, but I wasn't. He really was taking a long time. And one stupid little feeling nagged at my head; 'would he rather waste time in there just to avoid me?' Hn, stupid feeling, I'd be glad if that was the case.

Unfortunately, I knew it wasn't. Of course it wasn't. That dobe obsessed over me more than any fan girl I had ever met. He annoyed me more as well. I ignored that insignificant voice that mentioned how I would not have done all this for any fan girl.

It turned out Naruto stayed in the bathroom until our clothes were, not only washed, but dried too. And by dried, I mean hung out the back on a small clothes line. Because I wouldn't even use a jutsu to dry clothes - it was too risky. Naruto finished when I mentioned the clothes being done. It made me angry. What was his problem? Come on…seeing another guy with nothing on but a towel couldn't be that revolting. And the damn dobe hadn't even said anything about the flat. Not about the cleaning or the paint. I felt so angry.

So I ignored him when he finished changing. I just sat – clothed now, so he had nothing to throw a tantrum over – on the couch, staring at the wall. Glaring. Idiot Dobe!

"Hey, Sasuke. That shower is better than I thought it'd be, heh…" he sounded nervous.

I said nothing.

"We don't have any food do we?" He said; no, of course we don't idiot! Because I spent the only money we had on something you haven't even noticed!

I said nothing.

"Heeey…Sasukeee!" I felt him take a seat beside me, leaning over so that he could look closer into my face. I didn't move.

I said nothing.

"Yoo-hoo! I'm talking here!" Naruto wailed into my ear, but I didn't budge. I'd show him, ungrateful idiot.

I would say nothing.

"Huh…" He turned, distracted, to stare at the wall I was looking towards, cocking his head to the side. "Did something happen to the window? I can see out of it now." Idiot dobe!

I attacked. …

Just to clear this up since I’ve been asked about it before. The bar they work in…it sells alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. I'm pretty sure that they are allowed to go into bars like that in the Narutoverse since Naruto has been in bars before (with Jiraiya when they first met Tsunade and when they were looking for her) and Lee was even allowed to drink some sake (though that might have been an accident) either way, I think they are allowed in bars so…yeah.

And yes ^.^ every time I get a review I will post the next chapter. Until I run out of already written chapters. Then they’ll slow down.

Xx..xX