The Challenge

Chapter Thirteen: “The Other Side”

For the most part he aced all his classes but he didn’t possess Hinata over all intelligence. He concentrated on what he might need in the future. Taking different classes like foreign languages and gym looking good on his transcripts for college but visually he only worked hard enough to pass. Trying for valedictorian wasn’t an achievement he craved so he left it for Hinata to try for. Instead he impressed the teachers who taught business math and accounting; and he disregarded classes he felt held no value for him.

Just because he didn’t value the information he gained in some subjects he had too much pride not to pass with high marks. This need drove him towards the back of the library. Raidou-sensei assigned a paper on WW2 for his government class. They had to pick a topic and write a five page paper. Most of the information he needed he colleted off the internet but sometimes he liked to dig through books. That quest took him to the library’s set of encyclopedias.

When he turned the corner the last thing he expected to find was his best friend pushing Sasuke up against the wall. His heart fell painfully into his stomach leaving his head and chest aching. Air caught in his throat making him gasp soundlessly as he scrambled to hide behind the book shelf. According to the continuing sounds of them behind the shelf he was sure they hadn’t seen or heard him.

He ground his teeth and clenched his fingers to the point of pain. Red hot anger rushed through his veins building a rage in his chest that made him want to scream. He squeezed his eyes shut and took several silent deep breaths to calm himself down. It never happened often but when he did loose control he hated the way it made him feel. His face heated up, he breath quickened and his stomach churned.

Behind him, through the book shelf, he could hear the two of them separate and talk in low voices. The sound of grinding teeth in his ears blocked out their words.

He just couldn’t understand what the fascination was with the younger boy. Sasuke was a nobody; he floated in the back ground, unseen, like Hinata. Suddenly now every time he turned around Naruto was eating bento made by the kid or running off to meet him. Never before had he seen Naruto so interested in anyone. All the others passed by his bed without a second glance. To his knowledge Naruto hadn’t even slept with Sasuke but he followed him around like a lost puppy. The whole thing made him want to puke.

A rustling nearby startled him into stepping swiftly to the side. He pushed himself further into the darkness between the book shelves to stay out of sight as they passed him for class.

After a while he followed them out, earning a dirty look from the librarian. “Class started ten minutes ago.”

He didn’t bother to look at her while walking out. “Shut up.” He hissed barely loud enough for her to maybe hear him.

Instead of class, he avoided hall monitors and escaped out the door leading to the roof. It was supposed to be locked but a group of students secretly paid the janitor to leave it unlocked as well as the door to the outside. Mostly it was convenient during the summer when the nice weather held a bigger draw than the stuffy classroom. This time of year the chances of the roof being empty were greater because of the cold. It wasn’t raining or snowing even though dark clouds covered the sky leaving the air muggy.

From his inner jacket pocket he produced a single cigarette and a book of matches. In case of locker searches he liked to keep just enough on him that he could dispose of it without loosing his whole pack. He learned that the hard way a few months ago until Naruto told him to pack light.

A six foot high fence surrounding the perimeter of the roof and a small structure containing electrical equipment sat to the side. He lit his cigarette and sat with his back against the fence ignoring the cold penetrating his uniform. The wind blew his long hair to the side forcing him to grab it to keep it out of his cigarette.

Thin trails of smoke drifted upwards disappearing with the wind and hopefully carrying the smell away from his clothes. His anger and frustrating started to melt away slowly as he drew the nicotine deep into his lungs. He knew the effect was only temporary and when the drug wore off so would his relaxation. Mostly he smoked because of a silent internal rebellion. He did it in his room and his aunt and uncle had yet to comment. In his mind he thought they didn’t really care; he wasn’t their child after all. Right now he wanted to kill time and knew he couldn’t sit idly in a class room.

“Well, well look what we have here.” A familiar voice drifted on the wind. “What would people think if they saw the class vice president skipping class to smoke on the roof?”

“I don’t really give a fuck.” Neji took a drag then held out the cigarette to him. “Want a drag?”

Surprisingly Gaara snatched it out of his fingers and took a small drag but didn’t inhale. To his disappointment the red head dropped the half of a cigarette and crushed it under his heel. “You know they call that an indirect kiss, how about a real one?”

Gaara shifted to straddle his legs before dropping into his lap. The warmth of the other boy soaked through their uniforms clashing with the cold of the fence at his back and the chill of the air. Wind blew Gaara’s fiery red hair around his head covering his eyes.

Neji hissed and pushed at his chest. “Get the hell off me.”

“Why?” He shifted and pressed closer. “Do I make you uncomfortable?”

“No I just don’t feel like playing your game.” His fingers curled around Gaara’s shoulders to get a better grip in order to push him away. However, Gaara grabbed onto the chain link fence on either side of his head. “Why are you even bothering: I though you wanted Sasuke? You’re supposed to be getting his away from Naruto.”

“Is that your problem?” His classmate tilted his head and leaned close enough to almost touch foreheads. “You want Naruto to want you. I bet you want anyone to want you.”

He stared into those twinkling green eyes and took deep breaths to keep from punching the other students.

“I don’t need anything or anyone.” His sneer and rage filled words didn’t affect Gaara. He only smiled slightly and moved closer this time resting his head against his.

“We’re not talking about ‘need’ we’re talking about ‘want’ and that’s a different creature all together.” Red hair floated with the wind tickling his temple and pricking his eyes as the head it was attached to move to lay on his shoulder. Hot breath caressed his ear carrying words he didn’t want to hear. “Poor Neji stuck living with the twin brother of his dead father. Stuck forever trying to prove himself to the family he doesn’t quite belong to. And then there’s Naruto who can’t see what’s right in front of him.”

“Shut up.” He growled twisting his head away.

“What is it about Sasuke, huh? Why is his shyness and wide eyed innocence so appealing? Most of all, why are you so surprised Naruto doesn’t go after you? I mean he’s already had a taste of both of you and here you are.” Green eyes narrowed looking into his daring him to respond. The weight in his lap shifted closer again bringing their chests together. “I can make you forget all about those two.”

Suddenly wet lips descended and captured his. Shocked his lips parted gasping and allowing Gaara to slip his tongue inside. Cold, thin fingers dug into his hair tilting his head to the side giving the red head more room to devoir his mouth in a hard kiss. His own hands came up and grabbed Gaara’s hips sliding him closer wedging their hips together. Gaara moaned into his mouth and rolled his hips grinding down against him. Truthfully, though he’d fooled around with Naruto they had only kissed once. It was nothing like this kiss.

Abruptly he surged forward bringing his legs back to push against the ground. Gaara helped by leaning back and pulling at his uniform to bring them crashing against the tiles. The smaller boy’s back made contact with the hard ground causing him to grunt in pain into Neji’s mouth. “Go ahead, let go.”

Gaara’s words barely penetrated his anger as he pressed the other boy against the rough ground. The gravel covered cold tiles must hurt Gaara’s back, his knees ached but he heard no complaints. His hands grabbed at Gaara’s shoulders yanking at his uniform jacket and shirt hearing buttons pop. Thin arms and strong legs wrapped around him drawing him closer.

Below him the red head grunted and pulled at his clothes digging under the layers to touch his cold skin. He’d never been violent but the smirk and those challenging green eyes made his blood boil and cock throb. His mouth left Gaara’s to bite at his chin and then his neck hard enough to leave behind marks. Gaara helpfully tipped his head back exposing his white skin to his attacks.

“Come on.” Hands went to his belt and unhooked it.

The slight jingle of the belt buckle, though muted by how close they were, shocked him into reality. Pushing up from Gaara he started down at this boy that he barely knew but already hated. In a fit of rage he grabbed the other boy’s legs and unwrapped them from around his waist. Gaara smirked up at him fueling his anger. His fist lashed out burying into his classmate’s stomach driving the air out of his lugs.

“Stay the fuck away from me.” Jerking away he ran towards the door leaving Gaara lay behind him. Clumsily he re-buckled his belt and straitened his clothes nearly tripping down the stairs in the process. He was frustrated, confused, anger, and worst of all aroused.

Sometimes his common sense wasn’t up to par with his other intelligence as proved by his interaction with Gaara. He should have known that the red head would serve his own ends first before all else. Desperation left him blind to anything that didn’t aid him and now he suffered because of it. Using Gaara was supposed to allow him to influence Naruto without the blond knowing. Gaara was already the bad guy in Naruto’s eye and he liked playing the villain.

Neji took a deep breath and entered the hallway avoiding a hall monitor to duck into the bathroom. He stood in front of a mirror inspecting his wind blown hair and paled face from the cold wondering what was his next move. In his head he played with the idea of just confessing but knew that if he did that he would be seen as the bad guy trying to ruin his friend’s relationship. If it could even be called that.

As far as he was concerned Naruto was infatuated with a nobody who came out of nowhere and would return there just as quickly. It wasn’t who Naruto choose that bothered him because Sasuke was a novelty. What made anger well up in his chest was his own position in Naruto’s life. He longed to be more than a ‘friend with benefits’ in Naruto’s eyes.

He deserved more, wanted more. Unfortunately those thoughts were closer to Gaara’s accusation than he would have liked.

Without thinking or hesitating his fist smashed into the mirror shattering the glass.

XX***XX

After Neji’s hasty departure Gaara uncurled from holding his stomach after Neji’s punch. The pain and cold effectively chased away his erection as he struggled to catch his breath. One minute he had Neji just where he wanted him and the next Neji was punching him and running off. This was going to be much harder than he planned.

Personally he didn’t know Neji too well but listened to all the gossip and could read people pretty well. The death of his father had been in all the newspapers and being part of the popular crowd, everyone knew about him even back then. He went to the same middle school but transferred to a different high school. Now that he was back he could remember Neji, the pain he saw in the boy after his father’s death.

They didn’t really play a factor in his currant infatuation but the memory drew his attention to Neji. Naruto and Sasuke proved to be a slight distraction until Neji approached him asking for help. All thoughts of the blond and his virgin faded away replaced by thoughts of Neji. The long haired brunette seemed a lot more interesting than playing with the happy couple.

XX***XX

With his hand throbbing and dripping blood the entire time Neji left the building and walked home. In the middle of the day no one was on the road which was fine with him he liked being alone right now. He didn’t know or care how his aunt and uncle would react to his coming home early but he had no where else to go. His bed room seemed inviting right now. Before long the house came into view.

In his mind the house was too big and impersonal. He remembered his own home having the perfect amount of space for two people. It didn’t matter what room he was in he could feel his father’s presence of hear him talking to himself. In this house all the empty space of extra bedrooms and vacant hallways gave the home a feeling of animosity instead of comfort. The differences in the houses were just as different as the two brothers.

His uncle was cold and standoffish to everyone even his own wife and daughters. In a way it made Neji feel better to know it wasn’t anything personal towards him. Except the man had a special coldness for him that was more profound then what he had for his immediate family. Neji didn’t sweat it because his uncle was intelligent enough to know that Neji was the perfect choice for continuing the family business.

He ducked in the door and made a quick bee-line for his room and private bathroom to clean his hand. Unfortunately halfway there he ran into his aunt. “Neji sweetheart what are you doing home so early?”

She moved forward to touch his forehead but he stepped back out of her reach. “I hurt my hand and it’s making me nauseous.”

“Oh Neji, what happened?” Too fast for him to do anything she grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the bathroom. His hand was forced under warm water that washed away the blood down the drain. From under the sink she grabbed the first aid kit then and ushered him to sit on the toilet. “You need to be more careful. These cuts look bad.”

Neji rolled his eyes and sighed. This show of fake concern made his head hurt and stomach turn. “Its fine,” he tried to pull his arm back but found it held in a vice-like grip.

“It is certainly not fine.” Using tweezers she picked out a few small shards of glass and dabbed at the blood with some cloth. Next she smeared ointment on the cuts before wrapping his hand tightly enough to stop blood flow but loose enough to allow movement. She smiled up at him but didn’t immediately drop his hand and what she did next shocked him silent. Lifting his hand to her face she laid a small kiss on his bandaged knuckles. “There, all better.” She blushed and stood up. “Oh I’m sorry that must have been terribly embarrassing.”

“It’s fine.” He frowned at his hand purposely refusing to look at her.

“Listen Neji,” she put a light hand on his shoulder. “I understand how hard in must be to live with us. It must seem sometimes like you don’t belong here; I felt the same way when I first married into this clan. But when your father passed away your uncle fought to get you to come live with us. Originally you were going to stay with your mother’s sister.” Her hand moved up to cup his cheek while the other smoothed his long hair. “Even though sometimes it doesn’t seem it, never doubt that you are loved here.”

Unwanted tears sprang to his eyes making him blink and dip his head. It wasn’t fair; she shouldn’t be this nice to him. He didn’t want to hear declarations of love or caring from any member of this substitute family he was stuck with. Despite that he still wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her chest.

He could feel soft vibration against his face as she hummed gentle running her fingers through his hair. “If you make sure to finish all your assignments I won’t mention to your uncle that you came home early, okay?” Slowly he untangled from her to move to the door. Halfway there her voice made him pause. “I’d really like it if you’d stop smoking; it’s not good for your health.”

Without responding he left for his room. He didn’t want to deal with anything else today. Between Gaara’s sexual advances and his aunt’s expression of feelings he was mentally drained.

XX***XX

At the phone company Itachi slid his credit card back into his wallet after paying the service charge for the phone number change and the extra services. The caller ID and return dial service would add to the monthly bill but he could afford it especially with the extra work from his teacher.

Before heading home he had several more stops including a cell phone place. Until now he hadn’t needed one. Sasuke and he were always together except for school where they could contact each other through the faculty. It was about time he got Sasuke his own cell phone to stay in touch better. Keeping his brother’s taste in mind he bought him a blue flip phone with a camera and a black one for himself.

Grabbing lunch he strolled down the road enjoying the cold weather and in no hurry to get anywhere. His afternoon class had been cancelled and he allowed Sasuke to catch a ride home with Naruto to buy him some time to think.

He hid his uneasiness from Sasuke but he worried about the message on his phone. There hadn’t been another since but he doubted the man would just give up after one failed attempt. He had a couple ideas as to what the prosecutor wanted because there were only a few possibilities, all of which didn’t sit well. Changing their phone number made him feel better but he knew in the end it wouldn’t prevent the man from finding them. With his resources Ibiki-San could track them down where ever they went. The best he could do was make the hunt difficult; Sasuke was worth it.

This desire to protect his brother caused him to stop in front of a certain building. The house they lived in was completely paid for by the insurance pay out on the house that burned down. Their parents left a substantial amount of money behind in addition to several investments that kept money in the bank to live off of. He went to college on scholarships and Sasuke’s education was already taken care of by a law suit settlement.

Sighing heavily with doubt and guilt he entered the real estate office.

XX***XX

On the drive to Sasuke’s house Naruto stayed mostly silent thinking about his conversation with Shino and Shikamaru that day at lunch.

XX***XX

Where’s Neji? Hinata didn’t say anything about him being sick.” Since he spent the mornings with Sasuke he liked to eat with his friends to keep up on gossip.

Shikamaru looked up from his book. He wore a look that Naruto didn’t quite understand at first. “He’s been acting weird ever since you decided to play house with the Uchiha boy.”

“Neji’s always been weird.” Kiba stopped shoving food in his mouth to join the conversation that he really didn’t understand. “He’s just under stress from being close to graduating.”

“That’s true but he also has to watch something he wants get away.” Making up for his boyfriend’s misconception, Shino added to the conversation. “He’ll get over it.”

“Hinata doesn’t even want to become CEO and if she does she’ll probably give the position to Neji.” Shino and Shikamaru shared a look that Kiba stayed oblivious to but Naruto caught. “What?”

“He likes you.” Love made Shino deal with Kiba’s dense head but friendship didn’t mean he had to deal with Naruto’s. “Do you not notice how he tenses up every time you mention Sasuke’s name?”

“We’re friends, that’s all.” Naruto stated deciding that they didn’t need to know how they expressed that friendship. However, their words did strike a cord or familiarity. Neji seemed colder than usual and looked hurt when he declined to come over. He wanted to come over but he knew that would lead to less then friend like activities. These activities could ruin things with Sasuke and could ruin his friendship with Neji. He’d already let this get too far out of hand.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Besides I’ve seen him talking with Ga… Ow, you jerk what was that for?” Glaring at his boyfriend Kiba leaned down to rub at his leg under the table where Shino obviously kicked him.

Naruto ignored the name he almost said. Getting into that brought them too close to Sasuke.

“I’ll fix this,” he whispered. Kiba rubbed at his leg not paying attention while Shino and Shikamaru shared another look.

XX***XX

“You’re going to kill us.” Sasuke broke into his thoughts.

“What?” He looked to his side briefly before going back to the road.

“I said if you don’t pay attention to the road, you’ll kill us.” He huffed and adjusted the seat belt. Naruto smiled glad that he spent the extra money to fix the seat belt and on an air freshener. It made Sasuke complain less.

“Sorry I was just thinking.” Remembering the way, he took a right turn and looked for the correct house. As he pulled up along the side walk he sighed at the sight of the of Itachi’s car inside the open garage. However he was surprised to not see Sasuke’s brother standing outside waiting for them. “Here I thought Itachi would be standing on the street waiting.”

“I thought he would be too.” When the car came to a stop Sasuke undid his belt turning to his side. “You know he’s probably right beside the window pulling at the curtain and watching us. He’ll be wondering what we’re talking about.” Sasuke scooted towards him slightly and grabbed his hand. “When I go in he will fight with himself as to whether or not to ask me what we talked about.”

Naruto squeezed the cold fingers wrapped around his own. “We don’t have to talk. I could kiss you.”

The speed at which blood rushed to Sasuke’s face made his think Sasuke might faint. His reddened cheek bones must have been warm to the touch. If only they weren’t in front of the house then he could press his lips to those cheeks and feel the warmth. Damn spying brother.

“Itachi would see.” Sasuke warned moving his fingers out of Naruto’s hand and touching his arm.

“Maybe I don’t care?” Being bold Naruto’s hand found its way to Sasuke’s thigh squeezing him gently. The warm muscle tensed under his hand as his thumb brushed the inside seem of Sasuke’s uniform pants. He bend his head forward and tried to touch Sasuke’s cheek with his other hand but the raven haired boy pulled away.

“I need to get inside or Itachi’ll worry. See you tomorrow.” With that Sasuke pushed the door open, grabbed his bag, and headed into the garage. He turned to give him one last wave goodbye before disappearing inside.

Naruto started his car and drove away. Halfway down the street he slammed his hand into his steering wheel. “Fuck.” He wasn’t going to lie and say Sasuke was just another lay; he was fun to be around and cute as hell. Sure he still wanted to sleep with him but it was becoming clear that he was competing with more that just a protective brother and jealous classmates.

The way he tensed and the fear he saw in those black eyes spoke volumes of Sasuke’s past. At first he thought it just stemmed from inexperience but he was starting to see deeper. To back this up he thought about the situation with Gaara and what they talked about when he brought Sasuke home. Something, Sasuke wasn’t comfortable talking about, happened to get him out of an orphanage and into his older brother’s care.

Too bad something so bad had to happen to someone so sweet.

XX***XX

As Sasuke entered the house he barely noticed Itachi hide away some paperwork.

“How was school?” Itachi called out to him as he hurried to his room.

“It was good, I’m going to change.” Not worried about what his brother thought he practically ran to his room and shut the door.

He sat down on the bed before falling back to lie down. His hands rested by his thighs as he counted the squares on the ceiling.

Alone in the car, with Itachi possibly watching he felt clammy and trapped. He’d never felt that way before with Naruto even when the blond pressed him up against a wall or wrapped him in strong arms. But the enclosed car and Naruto’s hand on his thigh made him run.

Slowly his hand moved to sit on his leg mimicking how Naruto touched him. Naruto’s hand was bigger and warmer. His thumb brushed the inseam on his thigh and kept moving up slowly.

Very rarely did he feel pleasure from touch. Because humans touch one another he tolerated Naruto touching shoulders with him or Itachi’s protective hugs. Any other time he went out of his way to avoid even brushing up against people.

The time he spent alone with Naruto, hidden away in the back of the library, changed his outlook. Everyday he rushed to the library to let Naruto push him up against the wall and kiss the breath out of him. He liked Naruto’s touch.

His hand slipped easily over his uniform pants to pull his shirt out of them. He always kept his shirt tucked in under his jacket which drove Naruto crazy. The blond was always running his hands under his jacket but over his shirt grumbling about how smooth his skin must be.

The unfortunate truth was that it wasn’t all that smooth.

He thumbed the button out of the hole on his pants. His fingers slipped inside just enough to brush against the hem of his boxers.

“Hey Sasuke, do you want something to eat?” Itachi’s voice shocked him to attention.

Sitting up quickly he jerked his hand out of his pants and made a move to change. “No, I’m not really hungry.”

“Okay, well hurry up and start you homework.”

Thankfully Itachi didn’t open the door, except his brother did kill the mood. Sighing he pulled clean clothes out of the dresser and changed. Tomorrow he needed to apologize to Naruto for rushing away from him.

XX***XX

Notes:

At some point I fell in love with the Neji/Gaara coupling and they will be the center of attention for the next couple chapters but don’t worry I will not forget that this is Naruto/Sasuke.

They have a relationship based more on violence and anger where Sasuke and Naruto are sweet and gentle with each other.

XX***XX

As always thank you everyone who reviewed either new or returning. I know my updating is few and far between so thank to anyone and everyone who is still following.