Fine Lines

Fine Lines Ch. 10
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Sasuke's tires screeched as he stopped in the driveway to a large two story house. The front yard was a beautiful green with the finely cut grass that occupied the space and various other green plants that lined the front wall of the house.

The house itself was painted a bright white with occasional black accents and the front double doors were a dark black painted wood that was glossy and shiny.

The raven stepped out of his car and looked at Naruto expectantly, waiting for him to get out. "Hurry up, I don't have all day."

Naruto had been completely entranced with his first glance at the place where Itachi lived. It was beautiful, everything he’d expected really. Sighing at Sasuke’s order, he grabbed his bag before getting out of the car. He didn’t see Itachi’s car, so he figured he wasn’t there; which meant he’d probably gone over to his apartment... Heart sinking, he followed the younger raven to the door.

Sasuke unlocked the front doors with a number pad that was located off on the side wall next to said doors and waited for the click of the lock before opening the large door. He stepped into the foyer, black tiled marble under his feet with white walls and random pieces of artwork here and there.

The living room was directly ahead of the doors and passed the foyer, a large room that mainly occupied the whole bottom floor. The far windows of the room that looked into the backyard was all floor to ceiling and were uncovered at the moment so sunlight streamed through making the white interior look even brighter.

To the left of the front door was a staircase that curved slightly as it went up, its steps made of white carpet, as was the living room, and a black wooden banister that led to the bedrooms on the second floor. To the right was the kitchen and dining room which was out of sight and separated from he living room by a sliding glass door which was covered with a thick black curtain.

The young raven stepped further into the house after shutting and locking the doors once more and headed up the stairs. He turned as he went and noticed Naruto just standing there, staring. "You'd think you never saw a house before... my room is upstairs." he said as if the blonde should have already known and continued up the stairs again.

Yep, he had been totally right. Naruto was so embarrassed that Itachi had to deal with his disgusting little apartment when he lived in a place so amazing. But then, even if he had wanted to, he couldn’t afford anything better, not that he did. He’d lived in his apartment for years now and it was his home, he was comfortable there.

Shaking himself of his temporary stupor, he took one last look around the amazing home before following Sasuke up the staircase.

The spiky haired teen led Naruto to the third room from the top of the stairs, his bedroom, which was very different from the downstairs portion of the house. He opened the pristine white door and stepped onto the dark blue carpet. His room was spotless, not a scrap of clothing or item out of place and his bed was made perfectly with a black and blue checkered comforter and blue pillows.

Black curtains were pulled open so his floor to ceiling window, which also looked out into the backyard, flooded his room with sunlight, making the blue tones seem bright and very complimentary to the black tones. A flat screen TV was mounted on the wall opposite the boy's large bed and bookshelves were filled to the brim with books of all kinds mostly related to school, but one bookshelf was dedicated solely to CDs, even if the Uchiha didn't really use them anymore and they were now on his computer, it was still nice to have hard copies.

Sasuke toed of his black and white converse and picked them up before putting them away in his walk in closet, most of his clothing consisting of dark colors, and put his school bag next to his desk which held his flat screen desktop computer and a laptop right next to it.

He sat down on the bed and crossed his legs under him before staring at the blonde. "Take off your shoes before you come in here..." He lay back on the bed with a sigh of comfort. "Before you whine about it, everyone has to." he added just for good measure.

Naruto couldn’t help glancing around as he toed his shoes off and set them to the side. A pang of jealousy hit him, but that was understandable. Sasuke’s room was everything he’d ever wanted. Thinking of his barren room with the broken, worn out furniture saddened him. But, now was not the time to think of that.

Looking around, he wasn’t quite sure what to do. Should he sit on the bed? Should he sit on the floor? He’d rather be as far away from Sasuke as possible so he opted for the floor, leaning back against the mattress.

"Why are you down there?" Sasuke sat up and looked down at the blonde. "Come up here... you know I'm not going to try and screw you or anything." Sasuke did see the pang of sadness cross the blonde's face and didn't know what to think of it. Did Naruto live in a dump? It wasn't like Itachi told him anything about where Naruto lived... like he even really cared. Why was he thinking about that?

Why did Sasuke care where he sat? It wasn’t like Itachi was home... and Naruto didn’t want him to come home. He had no idea what the older man would do. Nonetheless he got to his feet and climbed onto the bed, seating himself as far from the young raven as was possible.

"What? Am I that horrible?" The raven hmphed and turned away. "Not like your any different from anyone else." He muttered. "Fuck it, go wherever you want."

Naruto’s eyes widened. What was Sasuke’s problem? He was obviously horrible. Nobody could be a good person if they did what the young raven was doing. Either way, he scooted a bit closer and tried to relax against the plush bed, wondering when Itachi would show up.

Sasuke sat in silence for a moment, not really wanting to talk. His thoughts were all messed up. For one he hated Naruto for taking Itachi away from him... not that he HAD him in the first place, but Naruto did take all of Itachi's attention. But on the other hand, Naruto makes Itachi happy, and Sasuke would give anything to see his brother happy...

The two conflicts weighed heavily on the boy and so he stayed quiet, not really in the mood to be mean to the blonde.

Naruto felt as if he were going crazy. They were just going to sit there in silence the whole evening? What was wrong with Sasuke? Well, he didn’t really know him that well so he didn’t know if it was out of character for him to be so silent, brooding.

There was nothing for him to talk about. He didn’t think he had anything in common with the younger raven...well, except for Itachi but he wasn’t going to talk about him. So, he tried his best to busy himself thinking about random things, but as always, his thoughts went to his lover.

"Why my brother?" Sasuke finally asked. "Couldn't you have picked someone... I don't know, your own age?" The words sounded harsh but Sasuke's tone was a bit sad sounding as he turned to face Naruto.

“It just kind of...happened,” Naruto replied, brows furrowing with thought. “At first I just had a crush, the same as everyone else but it just...I don’t know. Before I knew it I fell in lo-” He stopped talking immediately. He’d said too much. Blushing, he averted his gaze.

Sasuke looked out the window into the bright backyard. "Does he love you?" he asked without looking at the blonde. It was really hard to just talk without getting angry, but he figured the blonde did deserve to explain himself. He knew he got weird sometimes with his emotions. He thought he was passed that whole emotional rollercoaster bit, but apparently not. He sighed as he turned away, facing the opposite wall.

“Yeah,” Naruto admitted quietly. He had sensed the change in Sasuke and couldn’t help but feel terrible. He didn’t want to be the cause of so much drama, didn’t want to come between two brothers but... there was no way he wanted to end it with Itachi.

What would he do without the older man? He didn’t know, felt like he couldn’t function properly without him but he still couldn’t help but feel bad for Sasuke.

"He hasn't said that to me in over a year." The raven said quietly. "I know he does, but it’s still nice to hear every once in a while. Though I haven't been very pleasant lately... to anyone really." He did NOT want to explain to the blonde why he had been in such a bad mood as of late, even if the raven had no idea that Naruto already knew why.

"After my parents died, Itachi was the only one who really loved me... Not even the people I date love me; they just say they do because I'm popular. Stupid fuckers." He stayed where he was, not wanting to see possible pity in Naruto's blue eyes. "It's really lonely you know? To not have anyone really care about you..."

Naruto could understand that. Every time he heard the words from Itachi his heart soared and he felt so good. But he also knew that Itachi did love Sasuke, could hear it in his voice every time he mentioned his younger brother.

“He does... he talks about you a lot and he always sounds so sad.” He didn’t know why he was telling the teen this, but he didn’t like the sadness in his voice. It made him feel so much worse.

"I know I've been a huge disappointment to him lately, but I really don't know any other way to get out what I'm feeling but to use anger, it’s what makes me feel safest and less vulnerable I guess. It keeps me up all the time, thinking about how I've treated people... you." He finally turned to look at Naruto. "I know you don't deserve any of what I've put you through. It’s so hard though to think of you with Itachi and not have those feeling well up... I can't help it. He's giving you the attention he used to give me and I just want him to know that I still love him and that I don't hate him... I could never hate him." Throughout his speech, Sasuke realized he had started to cry and quickly turned away from the blonde. He hadn't even realized he was crying until he stopped talking. What was going on with him?

Shocked, he turned to look at Sasuke. He was...crying? He so very badly wanted to just hug the boy but, that was crazy! After everything he’d been put through, forced to do... It didn’t matter. He awkwardly reached out to lay a hand on the raven’s shoulder. “It’s fine,” he sighed. “I can’t say that I really forgive you but I understand why you did it.” Pausing for a moment, he gathered his thoughts. “I didn’t want it to turn out this way and I don’t want to ruin things between you and your brother... He loves me... but he loves you, too. You should probably tell him because he’s afraid that you don’t and it upsets him...”

Sasuke tensed at the touch to his shoulder but didn’t pull away. "It won't help... he'll never love me..." He stopped, almost revealing his deepest darkest secret. "Never mind, just go away. I'm sure Itachi will be here soon." He stood up and thus pulled away from the blonde as he headed toward a door against the far wall which turned out to be the bathroom. He closed and locked the door quietly, not wanting to have any interaction with anyone for a bit.

Naruto sighed. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn’t just wander around the house... but did he really have a choice? Sasuke obviously wanted to be alone and he didn’t want to upset him any more than he was. Maybe he should go home? Grabbing his shoes and the bag he’d carried upstairs with him, he made his way back downstairs.

At that moment Itachi stepped in through the front doors. He had no luck at Naruto's apartment; the boy had not been there. Itachi had waited over an hour for him and figured he was avoiding him so the raven just went home.

Upon entering, he stopped in his tracks at seeing the very boy he had been thinking about descending the stairs in his house... "Naruto?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "How did you find out where I lived...? Did Sasuke let you in?" That would have been an odd thing for the younger raven to do; considering he obviously hated Naruto. Maybe he brought him?

“He brought me here after school...” He noted that Itachi didn’t seem too pleased with the thought. Did the older raven not want him to know where he lived? “Sorry if it bothers you that I’m here...in your house. I was just leaving anyway.”

Itachi rushed over and met the blonde as he stepped off the last step. "No, that's not what I meant. I'm sorry." He said as he wrapped his arms around Naruto. "It doesn't bother me at all... It's just that... I don't know what I thought." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair that was down from its customary ponytail. "I feel like it’s been so long since I've seen you... Why were you avoiding me today?"

“I wasn’t really,” Naruto mumbled as he melted in the embrace, laying his forehead against Itachi. “Sasuke told me to meet him for lunch...” Sighing, he admitted defeat. “Okay, maybe I was. I thought you would be upset with me because of what happened this morning...”

Itachi sighed and led the blonde into the brightly lit living room. "Of course I was upset... but not at you. I know you had no choice." He sat down on the comfy white couch and pulled the blonde down onto his lap. "Did you and Sasuke talk?" he asked carefully, not really knowing what had gone on when the two were in the house by themselves.

Sasuke had said so much to Naruto that he didn’t really know where to start. “Yeah, a lot. He was pretty upset and he actually...” Shaking his head, he leaned against Itachi. “...He cried.” Sasuke and crying didn’t seem to go together at all. He still couldn’t believe it had happened. “He almost apologized for what he’s done and... he said he loves you and doesn’t hate you at all and...He was so sad. I feel so bad for ruining things between you.”

Itachi thought about that for a moment. He knew Sasuke loved him but felt that the younger raven didn't think him as important as he was considered years ago. It made him sad to know that his brother was so anguished over his feelings for Itachi. "He probably needed to get all that out... Thanks for being there for him. I could be there more if he'd let me."

“I had to,” he mumbled. “It’s my fault...” Naruto had to wonder, if he weren’t there, would they be able to patch things up? Was it totally his fault that both of the Uchiha’s were having so many problems?

He couldn’t help thinking that it was. If he didn’t love Itachi, if he wasn’t so attached to him, he would have considered leaving. The thought of breaking up a family was too much for him to handle. If he were in Sasuke’s place he would have reacted the same way.

Itachi tightened his hold on the blonde and kissed those lips he had been missing all day. "Stop blaming yourself. Nothing is your fault, this has happening long before I even knew you." He ran a hand lightly up and down the blonde's arm in a comforting gesture as he looked into those blue eyes. "Stay here tonight..."

The corners of Naruto’s lips twitched into a smile at that. “Yeah.” His arms came up to encircle Itachi’s neck, and he pressed a soft kiss to the lips so close to his. “I’d love to.”

TBC

Told you Sasuke was going to get better later XD Although he’s still a bit… issue-ridden but that’s what happens to the abused sadly. Stay tuned for more!