Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Art of The Business ❯ Best Not Assume ( Chapter 22 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Sasuke yawned loudly as he stretched back his arms past his head. He had never felt so non-refreshed before. He would never let the dobe know just how much the thought of not knowing where he was or what he was doing, bothered him. It wouldn’t be so much a pain if the other would just tell him why he had to break off their first date last night. He figured it had to be something important if not Naruto’s nerves but even the dobe was braver than to use avoidance as a method of defeat.
The raven haired male marched slowly down his hallway, noting Itachi’s bedroom door was left open which could only mean the older Uchiha was already awake or never returned home last night. Sasuke would always guess the latter compared to the first, knowing Itachi rather well. But as he walked pass the barrier into the kitchen he found the familiar black haired man sitting at the kitchen table already sipping on a cup of coffee like it was the most pleasant thing he had ever had. Sasuke stared speechlessly at the other as he drank long and hard.
“Uh…Morning Itachi…” Sasuke muttered softly in an unsure voice. “You’re up rather early for once” he mentioned. He didn’t think Itachi woke up this early even on his days off if that was anything to describe how much time his brother spent in his room.
Itachi merely shrugged at the statement, taking another swig of his coffee. “Couldn’t sleep long” he said simply. That was reason enough for him and that was all that mattered.
Sasuke shook his head at the vague answer and came over to the coffee pot to get a cup of coffee as well. He couldn’t help but notice as he turned back toward his brother that his hands were reddened and his knuckles a rough swollen mound. That was beyond odd even for Itachi.
“So…what happened? You punch a brick wall last night or what?” he asked with a soft chuckle.
“A skull” Itachi clarified which made the teen drop his amused smile. He could tell that Sasuke didn’t know whether he was telling the truth or not. “You look tired…restless night?” Itachi questioned, hoping to change the subject. He had a tendency doing so whenever conversations involved his mysterious work. Sure enough this was the bait Sasuke willing took.
“Hell yeah! That stupid dobe plagued me even in my dreams. I couldn’t help but get this weird feeling that something bad happened to him since he stood me up. He stood me up so serves him right” Sasuke retorted bitterly.
Itachi bit back the urge to smirk, knowing that the only reason Naruto turned down a date with Sauske was so he could return him a favor for earlier. It was something Naruto had pleaded with him not to reveal to Sasuke but Itachi wasn’t one for keeping promises especially if it would provide a good laugh for now. He parted his lips to speak on the statement but before he could reply, Sasuke had headed for the front door. He most likely wanted to get the mail and the paper. But just as the younger Uchiha opened the door he was surprised to see a thick mane of blond hair blocking his line of sight. He stared down further seeing a tan hair suspiciously gripping a newspaper at the doorstep.
“What are you doing Naruto?” Sasuke questioned quickly.
The blond jolted back up, picking up the newspaper he had just placed down. “Oh…I was just…getting your news paper for you” he chuckled. Sasuke rose a suspicious brow. He knew that particular smile of his. It was Naruto’s mischevious smile. Sasuke eyed the paper in hand.
“We don’t subscribe to that paper…” he pointed out.
Naruto suddenly huffed and shoved it into Sasuke’s chest. “Fine, so I bought it and wanted to show you” he retorted in defeat. He rushed pass Sasuke inside and smiled seeing Itachi at the kitchen table. He rushed over and slide the extra paper to Itachi. “Just look! I told you I would do it, didn’t I?” he gloated proudly.
The two Uchiha’s looked silently to one another before both starting to flip through the paper to see whatever Naruto wanted them to see so badly. Sasuke bit back a playful snort as he stumbled across the article. Itachi on the other hand seemed rather intrigued with the fact Naruto got any acknowledgement when he was such a no-name beginner.
“Should we be impressed with this dobe? Last time I checked being a part of a party had nothing to do with your modeling talent. When you get a real picture in the paper, I’ll congratulate you” Sasuke retorted.
“You are no fun Sasuke. It means that I’m important enough to be mentioned in the first place. People will start looking out for me now!” Naruto exclaimed, moving his hands to his hips and smiling brightly to himself. “Give me a week and I’ll have a real picture and article to show you” he chuckled.
“Save your breath…and your money” Sasuke pointed out, tossing the paper firmly back at Naruto’s head. “Why’d you buy two? We stay in the same house dumbass. Me and Itachi can just read the same paper” Sasuke retorted.
Naruto huffed lightly, picking up the paper that landed on the ground after hitting him square in the face. “It’s not my fault. I told Gaara I could put one back but he ended up buying them all” Naruto admitted with a sigh before thinking of his words.
The two Uchihas looked confused once more at the words. But Sasuke’s expression quickly soared before Naruto could think of his mistake. “Gaara? Who’s Gaara and why the hell is he buying you things?” Sasuke lashed quickly.
The blond yelped, stepping back as he recollected what was said. “I-I just ran into him at the pharmancy and I had forgot my pants so I didn’t have my wallet” naruto explained, waving his hands defensively.
“What?” Sasuke exclaimed. “What do you mean you forgot your pants? Forgot them where? Who the hell goes out without pants?” Sasuke marched over, forcing Naruto into a corner. Naruto nervously looked to Itachi who merely sipped at his cup of coffee with no intention of saving him from this suspicious situation. Some help he was; when it was his entire fault to begin with.
“Sasuke it’s not what it sounds like!”
“Oh? So you weren’t hanging out with another guy when you were supposed to be here being fucked by me?”
Naruto’s cheeks flushed bright red and his eyes rolled upward at the thought. Well how could he plainly say no when it was in fact the truth. “Um well…you see…I-” Naruto hurriedly slipped away from Sasuke. “Look at the time! I’m going to be late for work! I’ll see you later” he chuckled uneasily before rushing for the door.
“Dobe!” Sasuke screamed out.

-Winds of Change Scene-

Naruto stared dismally at the entrance to the building, reading “Konoha Medical Center”. He couldn’t believe this was his first assignment given to him by Orochimaru. He thought the man was joking when he said he wanted him to do a favor for him that was not entirely model related. It was his first official day of work and he couldn’t even start with model work. It had him down. Apparently Tsunade, who he had met at the welcome party, was opening a newly renovated children’s wing of her medical center and news reporters would be hovering around today. Orochimaru had asked him to go over as a representative of Beauty’s Venom to socialize with the children and cheer them up. Naruto thought it was a low blow to grab attention for him. He didn’t want to involve children. He would have done it just for the sake of being friendly anyway but since Orochimaru offered to pay him for this time he didn’t have the will to turn down money.
He put on a small smile and walked into the center. It was rather easy finding the children’s section by just following the colorful footprints on the tiled floors toward their wing. He could hear the loud sounds kids often made when left to their own advices. He stepped inside, finding a group of mischievous looking children with arrognant faces were taunting some other smaller children. Naruto didn’t have a tolerance for bullies as he had to deal with them all his life growing up. One child had spike brown hair and a toothy, or rather lack of tooth, grin, while his friends were a shy looking redhead girl and a snotty nosed dope in Naruto’s opinion. They didn’t look like much a threat but they sure seemed to talk a lot of trash with the other students.
“H-hey kid!” Naruto called out, marching inside and stopping the lead of the group from bossing around another kid. “What do you think you are doing?”
The kid frowned seeing Naruto and ignored him. The other child whimpered out as he was suddenly hit on the head with a pillow for not doing as Konohamaru told him to do. Naruto grunted out and grabbed the boy’s arm firmly. “Who do you think you are bothering other patients like that?” Naruto huffed.
“Don’t touch me! I’m Konohamaru. My grandfather built this hospital with his bare hands and someday this place will be mine” he declared firmly.
Naruto sneered and knocked the kid violently on the head. “I don’t give a shit who you are; that is no way to treat other people!”
“But you just did it!” Konohamaru screamed out in annoyance. He yelped as he received another hit on the head. His friends gasped and whined in complaint that Naruto had no right to treat him that way.
“You deserve it you little brat” Naruto warned. “If you want respect, try earning it on your own and not using your Grandfather to do it” Naruto retorted.
Konohamaru sneered lightly, staring up at the other teen as he rubbed his sore head. “How do I do that?”
Naruto smiled with a self-righteous gleam. “Glad you asked…”

-Another strong wind of change scene-

Gaara woke groggily to a soft buzzing sound. His eyes twitched as he finally opened them. As expected his world was surrounded in black but not because he was still asleep, just that his ceiling was black as well as his walls. He groaned lightly as he turned his head lightly to the side. Sure enough, Temari; his older sister, sat there shredding an apple down to the core like she had been peeling it for half an hour now. She merely glared at him with hatred as he acknowledged her.
“You selfish prick. You have no idea how long I’ve been up waiting on you. Dad really wants to knock your head in over the bill” she retorted bitterly.
“Bill?” Gaara questioned.
“Yeah the bill, idiot. The fee for a doctor’s house call just so we could pump your stomach of all those meds you took” Kankuro interrupted as he waltzed into the room. “Crazy shit, as always. At least there wasn’t any blood this time around” he pointed out, eyeing Gaara’s wrist with raised, scar skin from his last attempt at his miserable life.
Gaara groaned again, rolling back his eyes in defeat. They caught him again? He could have sworn this was going to be a quicker way to go and even that the locked door would slow them down.
“Well you’ve finally done it Gaara. You hurt yourself enough to be put under house arrest by the state” Temari pointed out with a mocking chuckle as she pointed down to his ankle bracelet. “You ought to be proud.”
Kankuro rolled his eyes and waltzed softly inside from the doorway. He paused a moment, noticing Gaara’s desk. He had never seen that picture there before; one of a smiling blond cut so perfectly in outline that it had to be important. He shrugged the thought away and flipped on the TV next to the desk. Instantly a news reporter came on.
“We are visiting today at the Konoha Medical Center where the newly renovated children’s center has just been opened. Surprisingly, there are no sad faces in this hospital.” The woman walked over into one of the rooms.
Gaara’s eyes widened.
On the screen was a vibrant male being suddenly tossed to the ground by a 12 year old. He merely laughed joyously and sat up to a sea of eager clapping as the other children watched. He quickly stood up and grabbed a small girl. “Okay guys, now if you get cornered from behind like this…” Naruto reached behind the girl, lifting her up from beneath the arms. The girl, unsure at first, gribbed his wrist and kicked him down below. The other boys “ahh”ed while other girls were giggling at Naruto’s face of pretend pain as he stumbled back to the floor.
Temari and Kankuro looked at each other in confusion. “What in world is that fool doing? He’s teaching kids to fight in a hospital?” Temari objected.
“Thn eh up” came a soft stammer from Gaara. The two siblings turned in disbelief.
“What did you say?”
“Turn it up” Gaara said more clearly as he pushed himself to sit up.
Temari couldn’t believe her ears. She gulped lightly and nodded as she grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. She ignored the program and instead watched in aw at the intrigued expression that appeared on Gaara’s face. She had never seen him this interested before, especially by a person. She turned to Kankuro for some sort of understanding but the older male simply tossed a glance back to Gaara’s desk where the picture remained. Temari trembled suddenly as she noticed the edges of Gaara’s lips start to perk up. Was that actually a smile?! Was he about to laugh even?

To Be Continued…
A/N: I’m so happy I could write this chapter with ease and so soon after the last one. I’ll try my best to try and keep this up. You can expect updates every 2-3 days since I’m on Holiday break. Review please!