Colors

* As suspected, work had bogged me down but thanks to you readers and reviewers, at least I still have an avenue to be release from this fucked up rat race in life. I love your reviews so far and I hope I don’t disappoint too many people as I’ve already had a fixed plot planned out for the ending couples. But I hope that you guys do enjoy the journey along the way which is why I won’t exactly say which these couples are but I’m sure some of you can already guess.

As usual, keep those votes and reviews coming in and thank you.

*Additional Note : Sometimes I reread and spot spelling errors I just want to kill myself for. Apologies.

HuGS!!!!
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Chapter 10

Neji panted heavily, supplying much needed oxygen to his muscles as they tirelessly worked on each step that the long haired man took in his jogging strides. Shikamaru on the other hand was lagging behind and in desperate need of a break to ease his tired muscles as he felt them beginning to cramp up.

He called out to his friend, “Hokay, I know you have lots pent up but I need to sit.”

Neji let out a long breath and slowly jogged on the spot before stopping completely to sit on the park bench next to Shikamaru. He fished out his water tumbler and sprinkled some over his head before downing the refreshing liquid to soothe his dry throat. It was nearing the end of spring and the weather was posing as an additional strain but he welcomed the challenge as a good work out always helped clear his foggy brain, especially since Naruto’s sexually arousing image had been permanently imprinted in his mind. He felt his cock pulsate with the thought. Looking for a distraction, he hastily wiped a fair build up of sweat from his face with the towel that he had around his neck and removed his hair tie before gathering his luscious jet black hair into a tight low pony tail.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru had settled for lying sprawled on the bench, trying his best to catch his breath as he panted heavily. Observing his surroundings, he noted nothing that would serve to interrupt a much needed lecture session, hence he decided to bring up the morning’s events.

“Okay, so what really happened last night?”

“Do you really wanna know?”

“I’m just concerned. I already have one brooding friend to deal with, I don’t need two.”
Neji smirked and gave Shikamaru a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry about it. I know what I’m doing.” Neji took another gulp from his bottle.

“I know ‘you’ know but I’m not sure if the blonde does. Why did you let him stay over at your place anyway?”

“Like I said, he was drunk.”

“Come on Neji, I know you. If you found him drunk you’d send him back to his place. He must have been more than just drunk.”

“Does anything get past that highly analytical brain of yours?”

“I don’t own a consulting firm for no reason you know.”

Neji sighed. He realized that if anyone would be able to help them both sort through things logically, it would have to be Shikamaru, especially in times like these when neither him nor Naruto could foster any logic. He decided to spill the beans.

“Okay, fine. He wasn’t drunk. What really happened was that Naruto went out on a dinner with Sasuke. They fought and he landed up in my place all shitty.”

Shikamaru cringed. That did not sound good, any encounter between the blonde and the fucking prick only spelt trouble and with Neji in the equation this was just the beginning of what could be an eventual Armageddon.

“Sigh, not again. How troublesome. Neji, why didn’t you just send him home?”

“Trust me, you wouldn’t have either if he turned up at your doorstep looking the way he did.”

“Well, the fact of the matter is he didn’t turn up at MY doorstep, he turned up at YOURS.”

A few joggers and their dogs passed by the two young men who were now deep in thought. Neji took another sip of his water.

“Did you sleep with him yesterday?”

“Gods, no! Well…. not exactly.”

“Neji…?” Shikamaru asked in a stern tone.

“I didn’t do the nasty with him if that’s what you meant.”

“So you slept next to him.”

“Yeah, just like how we used to always do to keep him from killing himself in those days. Remember?”

“Ah, yes. I remember. So what did the prick do this time to get him so upset?”

“He called him the porn star of art world that made it big and implied that he had to fuck someone to successfully establish his gallery.”

“Yikes…”

“Yup, but erm, that’s not all that happened.”
Shikamaru turned to glare at Neji, a worried look painting his face.

“Well?..... Go on…”
Neji hesitated, but decided to continue. “I managed to make him realize that he had the hots for the bastard.”

Shikamaru’s eyebrows lifted at that. He wondered what on earth Neji had done to beat the obvious into the blonde’s impossibly thick skull, something he had been trying to do for ages but failed miserably.

“How did you manage that?”

“Erm.. I …sigh.. I kinda molested him a little.”
Shikamaru’s eyes widened fully. “You what??!!”

A few ladies turned to give the tanned man a disapproving look, which made him take his tone a notch lower.

“You what…”

“Exactly what I said, I got him to imagine Sasuke and while he was fantasizing, I touched him with his eyes closed. Don’t look at me like that Shika. I got him to agree to it before I did it and I didn’t have to go that far to find the blonde having a hard on, which I pointed out for him.”

Shikamaru was a little disappointed in his friend for having gone that far with Naruto. What bothered him wasn’t that Neji had allowed himself to take advantage of their blue-eyed friend and engaged in a little frolicking session in the process. It was more a matter of Neji’s rebelliousness of doing the exact opposite despite his warnings to stay away from harboring any further affection for Naruto and his concern was proven as he watched his friend’s lips quiver slightly. Clearly Neji wasn’t really happy about the idea of Naruto being aroused by Sasuke of all people but unfortunately, he knew Neji was pretty stubborn and if he’d set his mind on something, it was pretty impossible to change it. He thought about the whole situation and wondered if he should try patching the both of them together. After all, it was obvious now that Naruto could be attracted to men and perhaps he and Neji did have a shot at something. His thoughts were interrupted as Neji spoke once again.

“But you know something Shika, that idiot being an idiot knew deep down.” Neji let out a sad smile and angled his gaze towards the pavement.

“Knew what?”

“He said he knew he was attracted to Sasuke, but admitting that would’ve meant losing me. He said he didn’t deserve me. That blonde’s really something else out of this world.”

Now that really surprised Shikamaru, which was something that almost never happened. He hadn’t expected Naruto to be so highly intuitive but at the same time, that meant that his idiotic friend was being very selfish and wanting the best sides of both worlds at his feet, something he definitely couldn’t agree on. He could see now why Naruto had said that he didn’t deserve Neji. He delved deeper into the idea of patching Neji with Naruto and wondered if it was at all the best move. Well, if Sasuke had managed to piss him off, perhaps that was all the fuel needed to spur it and if Naruto was afraid of losing Neji, it meant that there was some hope. The only problem was that he didn’t know if the blonde would ever really have a change of heart as he was equally as stubborn as Neji if not worse. But he couldn’t ignore the fact that he was missing yet another crucial variant to the whole analysis and that was how the blonde had landed himself a dinner with Sasuke in the first place? He would definitely have to ask Naruto later and with that mental note he decided to push the thoughts aside until his questions were answered.

“Tsk, talk about troublesome. Come on let’s go. Its nearing 8.30.”

“Yeah, thanks for not blowing your top on this.”

“Neji, really. Have you ever seen me show an extreme side ever?”

“No.”

“Besides, we’re no longer roving teens anymore, so whatever decisions you make, I’m here to support. Except for Naruto, his mind seems to be permanently trapped in the teeny stage.”

“Haha… you’re mean. He’d kill you if he heard that.”

“I don’t think so, I think he knows.”

With that the two men jogged their way back to Neji’s apartment.

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“Naruto-sama! We have a total of 56 million yen!”
Naruto looked half excited at his assistant.

“Great… help me arrange the logistics for the paintings will you?”

“You could be a little happier, we get half of that and he’s topped even Jane Doe!”

“Yeah I am happy.” Naruto stated with a half hearted smile.
Yukino looked at her boss with a lifted eyebrow, hands placed on her hips.

“I AM happy, so go ahead and do the necessary while I give Neji a call on the final figure.” Naruto persuaded his assistant. She decided to leave her brooding boss alone and performed as he’d instructed.

After his assistant had left, Naruto decided to drop Neji an email on the matter. He was in no mood to call his friend considering what had happened last night. He still had much to sort out and he wasn’t sure what he would answer Neji if he asked how he was doing over the phone. He clicked the send button and turned to idly flip on one of the art magazines to read a recent article about his gallery. The door bells tinkered and in walked a customer.

“Welcome, anything I can do for you sir?” Naruto greeted, grateful for the distraction.

“I was looking for a painting that I heard is still being displayed here.”

“Ah, which would that be?”

“The Jane Doe one.”

“I see, right this way please. Your name sir?”

“Zetsu.”

“Pleased to meet you, I’m Naruto.”

The man said nothing further and Naruto decided to respect the man’s silence. After all, anyone who had the means to go looking for the painting in question would probably be of some stature in society. They finally arrived at the painting. Zetsu stared intently at it and Naruto decided to let the man take in the full effects. After murmuring to himself quite a bit, which Naruto found rather strange, Zetsu turned to face Naruto.

“So how much is it?”

“Its going for 2.5 million.”

The man lifted his eyebrows at the mention of the hefty price but Naruto wasn’t intimidated. Opening on the high side would always allow him room for further negotiation. The man then turned to take another look at the painting before returning his gaze to Naruto.

“Done.” Naruto was a little surprised that the customer hadn’t even requested for a discount but made no move to dispute, which reminded him of a conversation he had with Sasuke, “Anyway, I don’t think its good practice for you to go calling potential clients and try to tell them they over paid for something,” Naruto blinked away the flashback and watched as the man took out a cheque, filled in the figures and handed it to him.

“The painting will only be delivered a week from now.” Naruto informed him.

“That’s fine.” He then took down the delivery address details and printed an invoice before handing it to the poker faced man before him.

“Thank you very much for your patronage!” With that Naruto bowed low and escorted his customer out. He turned to look in the direction of his favorite painting, *Finally, Jane you’re gone again.* He was always sad to part with her paintings as he felt a special connection to them. He wondered if he had met the real artist in person whether she could by any chance un-gay him. *Yeah right Naruto, good plan, maybe that’ll work to get your cock pointing in the right direction*. He let out a sigh.

His phone started vibrating. Naruto lifted it and stared at the caller ID. It was Sasuke. *Oh, fuck, the devil himself.* He had wanted to ignore Sasuke but realized he still had a painting to deliver and like it or not, the devil was still a paying patron. He clicked the answer button.

“What?!”

“Hey dobe, just wondering if you made it back alive yesterday.”

“I’m not a girl Sasuke, I think I can take care of myself pretty well. So what do you want?” An anger started to boil inside Naruto as he remembered the events from yesterday night.

“Look, I know it was really wrong of me to say what I did and I wanted to apologize again.”

“Why did you say it? You derive some kind of sick enjoyment from seeing me suffer or what?” Naruto remembered his school days and his anger threatened to spill.

“No, I don’t! Its just …” Sasuke hesitated giving an explanation.

“Come on, ever since we’ve met you’ve been either calling me a future gigolo, a son of a whore, a sex maniac, a junkie, a fucking slut what else? You think it was any fun to be labeled? Fuck Sasuke, because of you I had most of the school thinking and looking weird at me all the time you asshole!”

“Really Naruto, I didn’t mean any of it. I’m really sorry. Sometimes I just can’t control what flies out of my mouth.”

“But why me Sasuke? Frankly speaking, you don’t know me!”

“You’re right I don’t. Its just that…”

“Just what?! Just what fucking point were you trying to make by making my life miserable?!” Naruto’s anger and resentment bubbled over and he was shouting over the phone now.

“Its just that you have this thing…. This fucked up ability to smile all the fucking time! Damn it Naruto, what the fuck kind of person with your background gets to still smile while I…. I don’t!” Sasuke shouted back, loss of control evident in his shaky voice.

Naruto was shocked by his reply and he stayed silent. His mind had gone into a frenzied blur as he tried his best to figure out the meaning behind those words from Sasuke and for the first time it suddenly hit him that his rival had more to him than what Naruto thought was his love for torture. In fact, despite it being over the phone Naruto could feel the frustration in Sasuke’s voice like he was the one being tormented in some way and the blonde suddenly found himself deeply worried with what was wrong with the man. But no matter what it was, he still couldn’t shake off the anger in him and he remained silent instead.

“You know what?” Naruto was startled by Sasuke’s sudden interruption.

“Just forget it. You’re right. I am a sick sadistic prick.” He said softly.

“Sasuke, wai..” Naruto had meant to console him but he was too late as the dark prince had hung up on him once again.

Naruto stared blankly at his phone and let out a long sigh before resigning into his office upstairs. He flopped into his executive chair and wondered if he should have said something to comfort Sasuke. He was still angry with him and not to mention he was heavily burdened with just having opened up to his feelings for the pale handsome man. To make matters worse, he wasn’t even sure what Sasuke’s intentions were for agreeing to have dinner with him and as much as he liked to assume that the lone wolf wanted to spend time with him, it did not prove he was gay. *Is he gay? Oh, my fucking God!!* That heated argument just now had called up a lot of unwanted memories. Naruto winced as his breath quickened and thoughts about his background and his mother engulfed him.

His mother a crack whore he hardly knew - images of the many different horny men visiting the brothel, half naked sweaty women, the smell of cigarettes, sex, heroine, various colognes and finally, his mother’s face as she gagged for air from an overdose, naked body convulsing as her head hung over one side of her bed spilling her mass of golden hair, face blue, mouth gaping opened and foaming at one corner, sapphire eyes bulging out of her sockets as she stared at her son in agony. He got up abruptly from his seat and ran to the adjoining bathroom to his office, his breathing heavily uneven and his heart beating painfully against his chest. Turning on the tap he splashed cold water onto his face desperately trying to rid himself of the horrifying image and the audible sounds his mother had made in her dying breaths as he stood and stared. He finally managed to push out the gruesome visions as he looked at himself in the mirror and saw his dripping blue-eyed expression staring back at him.

He took a few deep breaths, counted till 10 and released them slowly to calm his shaking body, a trick he’d learnt from the therapy sessions his uncle had later put him through after taking custody of him. He worked hard to bring his mind back to his present surroundings and briefly noted to himself that he hadn’t had an anxiety attack like this for a long time. With his breathing back to normal he grabbed a few paper towels and wiped his face dry. He shook his head trying to eradicate the dizzy spell that he usually experienced with each attack and made his way back to his desk. *I really have to quit this fucking habit.*

Naruto took one last look at his phone. With so many things swimming around his head, he decided that he was in no position to call Sasuke back to salvage the argument and he brushed all issues aside and thought that it was best to let his head cool off first. To further take his mind off things, he started going through his office emails and encountered a flyer from one of his old race buddies.

‘Email from Rock Lee’
‘Yo Naruto! Haven’t seen you on the tracks for a long while! Where’s your youthful racing spirit?! Well, luckily, a couple of spots have opened up for the Tsukuba circuit and my green monster is dying to pound your orange tin can into bits! So what are you waiting for? Come up during the weekend and we’ll have a race! It would be dishonorable not to accept my challenge so make sure you’re there! Peace out!’

Naruto sighed and his mouth twitched with a small smile, amused by Lee’s evergreen enthusiasm. He figured that he would need something else to occupy his mind with and this was definitely the perfect solution to take his thoughts away from the grueling complexities of relationships. He dialed Shikamaru’s number on his phone and cleared his throat, making sure that his earlier episode did not show up in his tone.

“Hey, guess what?” Naruto asked playfully.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to call you.”

“About?”

“Your dinner with Sasuke that you conveniently forgot to mention.” Naruto’s heart sank.

“Oh, erm, that. How did you…”

“Neji…”

“Oh…”

“Anyway, I’ll speak with you on that one later. What did you call for?” Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

“There’s a race up in Tsukuba this weekend and I was wondering if you were free to help me out. The orange babe needs quite a bit of tuning and she’s a little rusty so we’ll probably have to head up there Wednesday evening to take it on a few spins.”

“Sure, sounds like a good getaway, especially for you.”

“Hey, don’t rub it in.”

“Sigh… ok. I’ll get Kiba and the rest of the crew. I hope they’re all free. You’re gonna need the help. Tsukuba’s not an easy circuit.”

“Yeah, especially not for someone as rusty as me. Anyway, I’ll forward you that flyer and you can do the necessary registration. You know how much I hate those things.”

“Tsk, thanks for the trouble. K, will call you later with more details. Cya”

“See ya Shika.”

Naruto continued checking the rest of his emails and his eyes widened at the sight of a familiar name.

‘Email from Kabuto’
‘Hello Naruto. I expect you’re well. Have you sold my painting yet? Also, thank you for the payment. We received it a few weeks ago. Anyway, I have good news. Another collection is coming up from Jane and it’s expected to be ready next week. I’ve been informed that it comprises of a set of 3, which goes without saying that I have to sell all 3 at one go. Please reply if you’re interested and I will send you shots of the paintings once I get them. You know the usual procedure. Best Regards.’

Naruto brightened a little with that. There was no need for him to miss the presence of her paintings any further and he was excited to see what Jane had in store for the art world. After he replied Kabuto’s email, he kept a mental note of the cheerful thought and set out to prepare the spaces he would need for the 3 paintings. He then proceeded to check with Yukino on her progress for those deliveries and kept himself fully occupied with more work for the rest of the day.

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Sasuke stared at his phone. Whatever the blonde had said about him was right. He did derive some form of sick enjoyment from seeing the usually happy blue eyed man sad. It didn’t take him much to figure out that he had formed the habit due to Itachi mentally and physically abusing him. It was like a vicious never ending cycle. Whenever he’d thought he was getting better at anger management and had a grown of softer side, Itachi would pick up on it and gave him a reason not to be. It was as if he was being conditioned and brain washed to become some evil demon and Sasuke was half wondering if he would ever escape his cruel fate. Perhaps he was slowly losing his marbles and he realized that he was in need of some form of therapy. But knowing his brother that would be the last thing Itachi would allow him to do. Still maybe all that was happening to him was for a reason, for the purpose of making him permanently suffer for being born. If he hadn’t been born, Itachi wouldn’t have had him as a younger brother, wouldn’t have been caught molesting him, his parents wouldn’t have sent him to Germany and they wouldn’t have suffered a plane crash flying to visit him. With that rationale in mind Sasuke was convinced that he was some form of sin reincarnate and should just forget about ever trying to cultivate hope. He stared blankly out his office window and at the city view feeling completely hollow.

His office phone rang and he clicked on the speaker button.
“Sasuke-sama.”

“Yes Miki.”

“Deidara is here to see you.” Sasuke frowned at that. Deidara paying him a visit could only mean one thing and that would surely be associated with his brother.

“Send him in.”

“Hello Sasuke.” The long haired blonde greeted him with a warm smile.

“Hi.”

“Was wondering if you might be free to join me for a little lunch?”
Sasuke eyed the man briefly and then realized that he did need a little something to eat. After all, it would’ve been unwise to ignore one of his brother’s personal body guards and PA.

“Sure. Can we make it short? I have a few things to run through today.”

“Of course.”

The two men headed out to a nearby sushi bar and Sasuke started grabbing a couple of plates to fill himself with. After they had eaten a little and Deidara saw that Sasuke was slightly more relax, he decided to bring up what he had in mind.

“Sasuke, you better be slightly more careful with those phone calls you’re making.”
The dark haired man glowered at him.

“You’ve been checking my calls? How?”

“Not the calls, your office surveillance. But make sure you properly delete all history of your friend from your phone before Itachi gets back. I’d hate to think what he would do if he found out and for your information, he has a habit of checking your phone when you’re unaware.”

“Hmf, thanks for the tip. Why are you telling me this?” Sasuke said curtly, not wanting to trust Deidara’s sudden helpfulness.

“Because I know your brother too well and if he thinks he should fuck someone up he will. I just hope that you haven’t forgotten that he arrives back in town on Wednesday. So better clean things up before then.”

“Yeah, sure.” Sasuke answered sarcastically

“I mean it Sasuke. Don’t get carried away and forget about how much pain your brother can cause.”

“Don’t lecture me as if you know what THAT pain is all about Deidara! I think I know all too well what it encompasses.”

“Then keep your tracks clean cause I won’t be able to mop up after you if things spill over.” Deidara said in finality. His tone was stern and he was worried whether his message had gone through to the younger man’s stubborn head at all.

Sasuke didn’t want to admit it but he knew Deidara was right. He had entirely forgotten about his fearful brother’s presence while he was busy trying to win over the blonde. Although now he wasn’t quite sure if that was at all what he was trying to do especially with the way he had treated him. He closed his eyes and started massaging his temple which had now started to ache again.

Deidara broke the silence but this time he spoke in a softer manner, “Sasuke, I know its difficult to believe but I do know how hard it is on you. Possibly as hard as me having to serve you up on a plate and watch Itachi torment you each time.” Sasuke lifted his head and found Deidara gazing past him and seeing the afflicted expression on his face, he knew that his brother’s bodyguard was advising him out of his own accord.

“Anyway, its time for me to do you another favor. You haven’t taken that Fairlady of yours out for a spin in a while. Suggest you give your contacts at Nismo a call and we can all go for a race this weekend. Does that sound good?”

Sasuke’s eyes widened at that. Racing was something he loved doing but didn’t get to do too often especially since his brother was never really very fond of the sport and was afraid that one day Sasuke might injure himself by crashing his car. But occasionally, Deidara would suggest that the younger Uchiha be given a break to recharge himself and Itachi would listen and agree to his brother’s pursuits, all this under the watchful eye of his trusted body guard of course. However, Itachi hadn’t counted on Deidara developing a softer spot for his brother these past years which meant that Sasuke was occasionally spoilt by his older friend. Sasuke was grateful for the suggestion as he needed to tear himself away badly from the mess that had cropped up lately. But he chose to hide his enthusiasm knowing Deidara’s affections for him and not wanting to lead the older man on.

“So where to then?”

“A spot has opened up in Tsukuba. We can head up after work this Wednesday if you feel up to it.”

“Sure, why not. But wouldn’t Itachi want to tag along since he’ll be back?”

“You know he hates those places. But he’ll probably send Kisame along just as an extra eye.”

“Whatever, I could care less as long as I get some breathing room.”

“I’ll let you know once I check with your brother, if he agrees that is.”

“Hn.” Sasuke sipped on his cup of warm green tea.

TBC

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