Dealing with Love (Complete)

A/N: A slightly shorter chapter….been busy with my internship at the newspaper office and the daily workout which means I get up at five, take a bus to my gym (which takes an hour) and then go to work and return late. Too tired to write more than a paragraph or too…plus a new idea and an idea for a sequel to Learn to Love are stuck in my head. Anyway enjoy…

Chapter 13:

“Tsunade-san…you must eat something.” Ino shot the woman a stern look. The older blond looked away. She knew that Ino was right, but she couldn’t bring herself to work up an appetite. She looked at that roll with a curl of butter on it; it brought back memories…memories of Naruto. The way he always licked it off whether they had guests or not when he was younger…before his light went out. . She’d always scolded him for it, until he ran and sulked. Then she’d have to make it up with cinnamon rolls which used to be his favorite food before he began to take on Kyuubi’s ramen in its place.

Tears filled her eyes. “Tsunade…the girl’s right. You can starve yourself to death.”

Ino stepped out as Jiraiya walked up to his wife. The blond woman stared at him before letting her tears fall. “I can’t! I’m not hungry, Jiraiya…so let it go…please…”

“I don’t think Naruto’s going to be happy about this when he returns…” Jiraiya gathered her into his arms. “I’m sure he’s out there somewhere! And it doesn’t matter what the bloody lawyers and police think…Naruto has a knack for disappearing!”

“It’s for real this time Jiraiya! They even distributed his fortune between me, Shikamaru and Kiba! They wouldn’t do that if they weren’t hundred percent sure!” Tsunade’s sobs turned hysterical.

Jiraiya sighed. “You’ve got to have more faith in him. I have a feeling something’s up, Tsunade. Something Naruto and Sasuke know…I don’t think we’re going to find out anything until they return. But one thing is for sure…Arashi’s involved.”

“They’d tell us.”

“They wouldn’t. If it was the Naruto of then, he would. But you have to admit, we don’t know this Naruto. We know nothing about him. Have faith, Tsu-tsu…”

Outside Ino had gone to knock softly on Shikamaru’s door. She opened and went in, even when the brunet said nothing. “Shikamaru?” The pony tailed genius remained silent as he lay on his bed, his back to her. Ino made her way over to the other side and sat down in the space he was curled around.

“Shikamaru…talk to me. You’ve been silent since they read out that will…” Ino hesitantly pushed his hair away from his eyes. “Please Shika…”

“He left everything to me…” the man said quietly. “I didn’t even know he was hurting that much you know…usually I used to think he’d trust me. Naruto always trusted me…but right now I’m not so sure. It’s not that I believe he’s dead, but I wish I knew where he was…sometimes I have nightmares…what if he is? What if we’re all deluding ourselves? What if something happened to Sasuke? Anything happening to Sasuke could trigger it off…I know nothing…I hate knowing nothing…”

His voice broke some and Ino leaned down to hug him. “He was my best friend’s boyfriend…I was in love with him. You have no idea what he was like before he went to Konoha. Sasuke brought him back to that…I hated it. I hated that Sasuke was around…because Naruto couldn’t love me then.”

Shikamaru stared at her, with tears in his own eyes. Ino wiped a few away. “But you know…once when Kyuubi was around he said he’d find someone for me…and he kept that promise. I love you Shikamaru and I know it hurts but please, please don’t brood about it so much. Naruto will come back when he’s ready…the company is yours till then, so keep it going for him ok?”

Shikamaru pulled her down next to him, arms around her waist and her back against his chest. “Sometimes I wonder why I’m the genius.”

Ino smiled weakly. “It’s only because people let you think you are…if they finally admitted you weren’t then they’d have to do their own work. And well since I love you…I have to be better than you…”

Shikamaru rested his head against hers. “I love you too…”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two months later:

“I’m taking the day off. I have to visit my sister… come on Kakashi, I know how important it is, but you have to let me take today off ok? It’s important and my sister won’t forgive me if I don’t meet her on her birthday.” Sai argued. He wished Kakashi would just let him off.

“Fine. Why don’t just check the neighbourhood out too? I mean, there isn’t any place we should miss out.” Kakashi sounded pissed.

“Whatever, Kakashi.” Sai switched off phone and turned into the highway. His sister lived in the suburbs of Suna with her husband and their daughters. He usually never kept in touch, knowing they’d want to help him with his financial problems, but he didn’t want to mooch of them. He tried to keep them away from his line of work and what it entailed. It was dangerous for them incase he made an enemy.

The house was a nice, little one in the row of look-alike houses. He parked predicting that the door would open any second now to have the whole family tumbling out to greet him. How they knew he’d arrived was a mystery. It was nice to think that maybe they all waited for him on this one day. It did happen…the girls were the first to tackle him to ground with cries of ‘Uncle Sai’ and shrieks of joy. His sister and her husband followed at a slower pace.

Sai grinned for real and shoved them all off. He looked at his sister. “Kori, still raising demons I see…”

The pretty woman smiled as she hugged him. “Yes…I’m afraid they’re going to be demons all their lives.” Twin shouts of ‘mom!’ erupted. Sai shook hands with Isato his brother-in-law, before they dragged him into the house.

The lunch was perfect; they’d cooked everything Sai liked. Kori loved the embroidered scarf he’d gotten her. His nieces Minami and Miriya were chattering non-stop about school and hot dudes. They also complimented him on how handsome he looked in his dark green shirt and black slacks. This was the only day on which Sai wore colour.

“Okay, Sai you’d better stay over because we’re all going to the theatre today. A very good play is on and I’ve gotten tickets for us all.” Isato grinned and held up the tickets, knowing how much Sai loved theatre.

“Let me stay at home! I have to go to martial art class or Zabuza-sensei will be very angry. And I have to meet Hiroki too…she said she’ll get us that hot new teacher’s phone number.” Minami cried as she heard their plans.

“Minami haven’t I told you that you will have to miss class at least thirteen times this morning! And you’re with your hot uncle Sai…so this new teacher shouldn’t matter.” Isato scolded looking put out!”

“Sensei is loads hotter than Uncle Sai!” Minami stated rudely, getting into the car in a resigned manner. Sai looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but Miriya claimed his attention before he could say anything.

The play was a lot of fun; Sai enjoyed watching the number of expressions on the actor’s face and tried imitating them. He turned to see Minami blinking back tears as she looked at her phone.

Sai leaned towards her. “Minami what’s up?”

“Sensei talked to Hiroki for five whole minutes today!! I wish he’d talk to me…I love him, uncle Sai!” she sniffled a little.

Sai blinked at the thirteen years old and then smiled. “Come on, I’m here aren’t I? And I love you loads, so what says you we go to meet this teacher and I make friends with him? That way he can talk to you more…or maybe we’ll cook up an excuse for you to spend more time with him?”

“You’d do that? I love you, uncle Sai!” Minami hugged him.

Sai nodded and then gave her an amused look. “So who is this teacher of yours whose hotter then I am? Does he have a name?”

Minami nodded. “He’s got a beautiful name. His name is Uchiha Kyuubi…”

Sai’s eyes widened in shock.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto sighed and straightened a smile on his face. “I beat you…”

Zabuza grinned at him. “Sure you did!”

“So am I ready?” Naruto looked at him seriously now.

“Physically, yes you seem to be. But I’m not too sure about mentally. Are you sure you want to do this?” Zabuza asked him. His face was painted with concern.

Naruto looked away. “I don’t have a choice. I have to beat him…then I’ll decide whether or not I can kill him.” His voice was low; he was trying to fight away the happy memories he had with Arashi. They were nothing now…there was just pain, sadness and death.

Haku came up behind Naruto, giving him a short hug. “You’ll know what to do when the time comes, Naruto. Don’t dwell on it right now. All you have to do now is form a plan and find your father who seems to be disappearing quite regularly these days. If you need help, you know we’ll be there for you!”

Naruto smiled at Haku. “Thanks Haku. And thanks Zabuza…but I think I’ll leave in a few days time. I need to get away from here so you guys won’t be in danger. And before you protest, that is likelihood.”

Zabuza stared at him for a long time and then he nodded. “You can stay as long as you want. There aren’t any compulsions.” He shot Haku a look, as the other man tried to protest.

Naruto smiled. “Thanks guys. Now we should get downstairs and teach the little devils who come here. I pity Chouji; he has to deal with the two violent ones…”

“Yeah come on.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You did it!! That’s great! We’re going to have to celebrate. I’m going to call Kakashi right now!” Iruka beamed at Sasuke before grabbing his phone and calling Kakashi.

Sasuke gave him a short smile and leaned against the wall. He’d finally made ten circles of the room without falling over…which was good, since he’d had to practice his walking with lots of physiotherapy. Shizune-san had really been good to him. He took a deep breath and walked to his bed.

It wasn’t much of an apartment really. It was actually a room in an abandoned office building…just a large room about forty by sixty on the eighth floor with large French windows facing the city. It was bang in the middle of central Suna, but no one usually noticed it. Kakashi’s old owner had left it to him in his will and thankfully Arashi knew nothing about it. It had a small open kitchen against the wall on the right of the bed, while the French windows were on the left of the bed. A small bathroom was opposite the kitchen. And a huge ceiling fan supplied cool air. Two futons in the centre of the room were the only sign that two more people lived in the place.

Sasuke took a detour and collapsed against the French window, though he made sure he was gentle, there was no balcony and the windows though soldered shut, weren’t too strong. Naruto…where are you? He missed the blond’s sweet smiles…when he wasn’t in his insufferable moods.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Iruka shooting him a look of sympathy. “Come on, get to bed Sasuke. If you don’t grow stronger soon, you won’t have the strength to look for Naruto with the other. Kakashi said he’s bringing some special food for us today…Sai is at his sister’s. He said he couldn’t miss meeting her so he’ll continue searching tomorrow. Sasuke just gave him a troubled look. Then he forced himself to calm down…Sai had a life too.

Sasuke woke up and hour later and sipped the milk Iruka had made for him. Suddenly realising that he and Iruka were properly alone, without Kakashi or Sai to interrupt, he asked the question he’d been asking since he’d woken up, but he hadn’t gotten any answer.

“Iruka…please just tell how the heck I’m alive? Who saved me and how?”

The chocolate haired man suddenly looked flustered. “Sasuke, I’m sure you know that Kakashi doesn’t want to talk about it…you’re alive and that’s it.”

Sasuke lost his cool. “I WANT TO KNOW! I BLOODY WELL HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW! NO ONE COULD HAVE KNOWN…NO ONE! UNLESS THEY KNEW WHAT ARASHI WAS UP TO! SO PLEASE JUST FUCKING TELL ME!”

Iruka just stared at him. “Sasuke…it’s not my secret…I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. Because it would just bring out things that aren’t any concern of yours…”

Sasuke turned away. Iruka swallowed, but continued. “You must understand…it’s hard…you’re alive and you’re safe…for now. That is all that should matter…I won’t tell you…”

“But I will.”

“Kakashi! But you said…”

“He has a right to know…” Kakashi looked at Sasuke. “I knew Sasuke. I knew Arashi was going to something…just like I knew Arashi would do something about Kyuubi.” He avoided looking at the look of shock and horror spreading over Sasuke’s handsome face. “In Kyuubi’s case, I didn’t really believe it…more like I wouldn’t let myself believe it. You see, Sasuke…before I became a chauffer for the Uzumaki’s I was a slave. When Arashi-sama was betrayed by his wife and ex-lover, he turned to me for…a good fuck. So yes I was his slave.”

“It was a slow change…at first he just came to talk about Naruto a lot…his son was the only person in the world he could lean on…he’d never seen me as anything but his slave and chauffer. It slowly turned into an obsession. But I was in love with him…I didn’t want to believe what I knew was true. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you.” Kakashi looked up to find Sasuke’s dark eyes were swirling with emotions. He couldn’t make out which to pick.

“Go on.” It was curt. Sasuke didn’t know what to say.

“I knew the moment you didn’t leave that Arashi would try something. So I followed you…you lost me along the way, but I had some idea of where you were heading. I didn’t want Naruto to lose someone he loved again…I didn’t want you dead. So got there a bit too late…I saw Arashi throw you in and leave. When I ran up you were about to let go…losing conscious rapidly. Thankfully I could catch you, so I got you back up and called Shizune. I asked Iruka to help…” Kakashi wasn’t sounding proud of himself, in fact he was staring at the floor ashamed.

“Thank you for saving my life. I don’t know what to say…I’m really confused and angry. You could have stopped it from happening the first time…and you could have stopped it the second. But then I knew and I didn’t tell Naruto either. I guess you’ll have to give me time Kakashi.” Sasuke turned back to the window.

“Well, I have the food…so let’s have a quiet and awkward celebration shall we?”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto corrected the position of one of his older students. Finally they could move with co-ordination and grace, instead of like clumsy oafs. At least these weren’t fan girls. Zabuza congratulated him on actually becoming an experienced teacher.

“You’ll have a job here, anytime you want, Kyuubi-san. You’re a very good instructor.” The older man smiled at him.

“I guess I’d like that. I used to teach Sasuke…he learned very quickly…” Naruto turned to see Chouji traipse in with huge bags of food.

Seeing his raised eyebrow, Chouji grinned. “It’s to celebrate your becoming teacher material at last! I really didn’t think you’d make it man! So come on have some food.”

Naruto laughed and helped him lay the food out on a long table they had at one end. Other instructors crowded around and someone brought some booze. Naruto steered clear of the alcohol, he didn’t want to get drunk and deal with revealing things.

He helped himself to the lovely oregano garlic bread and some pasta. When Kyuubi had died…his anguish had lowered to a low buzz three months later. Yeah he couldn’t laugh or smile, but it was nothing compared to the constant full blown pain he’d been feeling since Sasuke’d died. It was like the tap had broken and the same amount of pain was rushing out instead of gradually subsiding to a buzz

Funny how the mere mention or thought of Sasuke, left him wanting to cry, unlike the mere mention or thought of Kyuubi…which usually made him angry and hurt. He felt guilty…though Kyuubi had been his first love; they’d never had that quick spark that he and Sasuke had had. That weird understanding and that crazy passion. Maybe that was the reason this hurt so much more.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around. It was another instructor. “Hey Uchiha, Chouji says there’s someone on the phone for you. An uncle of one of your students…”

Naruto shot him a puzzled look before going up to the corner where the phone was and taking it from Chouji. “Hello? This is Uchiha speaking…”

“Naruto…”

Naruto almost dropped the phone. “Who are you?”

“I’m surprised you don’t remember me. You teach my niece. Have you any idea the amount of trouble I went through trying to find you?”

“Danzou!”

“So you do remember. Yes it’s Sai. We can’t talk here…I have something important to tell you…”

“I don’t care bastard…you’re just going fuck things up again…I’m having up…”

Sai sounded urgent. “Sasuke’s alive….”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: yes I am ending this chapter there…and yes you may through your slippers at me…they’ll hit Itachi anyway because he’s shielding me, but then I get to tend to ALL his bruises then…(evil gleam).

What do you think? Review and tell me…

Itachi: That’s all you’re going to say? What happened to your long winded dialogues?

Taka: SNORE

Itachi: (poke poke) you asleep? (It’s funny when people wake you up to ask you that)

Taka (growls): I was until you woke me up, you dumb bloke! What kind of person wakes someone up to ask them that?

Itachi: Oh…sorry.

Taka: Soooo tired….too much work…snore…

Itachi after five minutes: You still asleep? I thought maybe we could do something…

Taka throws Itachi out of bed. “Go back to monosyllables…I don’t my readers seeing the REAL you…they’ll die of shock and heart break…and you’re ruining you’re bad guy image, which I liked…

Itachi: you loved me only for my image?

Taka: Yeah, now massage my abs. they’re hurting with all that gym-ing and reporting I’ve been doing!

Itachi gets to work…of course this will lead to him getting his way of DOING something after all. SNORE… or may be not.