Fine Lines

Fine Lines Ch. 13
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto sat idly in class, as he had been every school day for the past few weeks. It was going rather well, his grades were steadily rising and homework wasn’t taking him as long to complete anymore. A few days ago he’d had a test in his chemistry class and he’d even managed to pull off a B. He still didn’t know how but he had been overjoyed, same with Itachi when he’d shown him.

Chemistry, the class he was in now, was taught by someone named Orochimaru. He was a rather quiet figure except when he got onto a few select topics. His pale complexion, long black hair and cold eyes put many students off and he was labeled as the ‘creepy teacher’ of the school. However, he was good at what he taught, even if some of his lessons were a tad... unorthodox.

It had quickly turned into one of Naruto’s best subjects. The hands on application that mostly each class offered was perfect for him and he normally found himself looking forward to it. It seemed Orochimaru had taken a liking to him and was quite kind to him, which only made Naruto like the class more. Not many teachers approved of him and whichever ones did, he tried his best to please.

The bell rang and Naruto picked up everything that was spread over his desk, stashing it into his bag. As he made his way from the classroom, he felt Orochimaru’s eyes on him and he offered him a small smile before leaving the room.

The pale man returned the smile and went about his task of cleaning up. It had been a while since a student caught his interest. Naruto seemed to be progressing well in the class ever since... Itachi started helping him.

Orochimaru was not fond of the Uchiha, thinking the man too lenient with his students, not to mention he was now the prime attention whore for Naruto. He wasn't sure of all the details, but the way Sasuke, his other favorite student, talked about the way Itachi was always with the blonde, that there was more going on than just studying.

Of course he had no proof of that and couldn't possibly bring anything to the principal. But he felt that if Itachi was involved with Naruto that something should be done about it. He'd just have to figure out if something was going on.

Orochimaru figured that he'd talk to Sasuke more about it; maybe the younger Uchiha had some answers for him. Feeling a bit more content, he locked up his classroom and headed out of the school, and home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto stopped at his locker to gather the rest of his homework that he’d have to complete that night and left the school grounds, hefting his bag over his shoulder as he lazily walked home. As always, he arrived in a relatively short period of time and let himself into the apartment.

Over the last month he had found time to actually clean it and it now looked almost like a home. The floors were no longer dirty and it was only a tad bit messy but then, he couldn’t really handle a clutter free home. He had always been a messy type of person and he didn’t think that would ever change.

Locking the door behind him, he toed his shoes off and then threw his bag down on the couch so that he could work on it later. Moving into the kitchen, he got himself a drink and then plopped onto the couch cushions to relax and watch TV for a bit.

He looked up when the phone rang but really, there was only one person it could possibly be. Nobody other than Itachi would call him. Jumping up from his seat he practically flew across the living room to answer it. “Hello?” he asked breathily.

Itachi gave a low chuckle as he heard his lover’s breathless voice on the other end of the line. "Hey baby. How was school?" he asked as he leaned back against the couch. Over the past month he and the blonde had gotten closer than he probably had ever been with anyone. It was a wonderful feeling to feel wanted and needed like how Naruto made him feel.

“It was okay,” Naruto replied. “What about you?” Naruto smiled as he flopped back onto the couch. Talking on the phone wasn’t so bad anymore. Actually, talking in general wasn’t. He felt much more comfortable now than he had in the beginning of their relationship. He actually felt much better overall; he was mostly happy every day and he didn’t have as many mood swings anymore. It was all thanks to Itachi.

"I was a bit tired. But other than that nothing out of the ordinary happened." He smiled against the phone. "I did get a call from the Principal a little while ago... She said she wanted to talk to you tomorrow. She didn't tell me what it was about though." He did think it kind of odd that Tsunade would have him tell Naruto when she could have easily told him herself. But what was done was done.

“Oh, that’s...weird. When am I supposed to see her tomorrow?” Naruto’s brows furrowed as he tried to think of a reason why the principal would want to see him. He’d seen her once or twice when he’d gotten into trouble but other than that, she’d left him alone. And he hadn’t done anything to get in trouble. These days, his personality was almost the exact opposite.

"I don't want you to worry, it's probably nothing. She said preferably before your first class." The raven gave a soft sigh. "You did nothing to get in trouble..."

“I know. I’ll try not to worry...” Naruto knew he would. Every time he’d gotten called to her office before he’d gotten in trouble for something. But honestly, he hadn’t done anything this time... “Are you gonna come over today?”

"Of course I am. I just have to finish up a few things first and then I'll bring over dinner ok?" It was a common occurrence for one or the other to go to each other’s houses after school. Usually Itachi would head to Naruto's apartment; it was just a bit easier that way. Although the raven was sure that Naruto would have rather gone to his, there was still a bit of awkwardness concerning Sasuke. But his brother was trying and that's all he asked of him.

“Okay,” Naruto said, returning the smile he could hear in Itachi’s voice. He decided that after he got off the phone he would do some homework so that he could have more free time with the raven. Holding the phone in one hand, he opened his bag and began pulling the books out, setting them on the couch beside him. “I guess I’ll see you in a bit...”

Itachi said his goodbye before hanging up and continuing his grading. He wondered what Tsunade had to ask Naruto about? She specifically told Itachi that he wouldn’t be allowed to be in the room with the blonde so he guessed it had nothing to do with his grades. He really hoped it had nothing to do with their relationship. Sasuke was over his little tantrum and as far as he was aware, no one else knew.

He finished grading fairly quickly and left Sasuke a note for when he got back from wherever he was and headed out the door to pick up dinner for Naruto and himself.

The raven parked against the sidewalk in front of the blonde's apartment complex like he always did and got out with the bags of food he had gotten from a very nice Japanese restaurant. The place usually didn't do take out but he knew one of the chefs who was able to get it for him. He knocked on the door and stood back a bit and waited for his lover to answer.

Naruto put his homework down on the coffee table and jumped to his feet when he heard the knock on the door. His feet carried him quickly across the room and he unlocked the door, a big smile lighting his face as soon as he Itachi standing there. He let the raven in and then locked the door behind him. “Hey,” he greeted his lover. “Whatever that is smells good.”

Itachi smiled and handed Naruto the bags so he could take off his coat. It was starting to warm up finally and the need for heavy jackets was no longer required. "I got it from a Japanese restaurant that makes excellent food. I ordered a few different things since I didn't know what you liked."

He stepped further in the apartment before wrapping his arms around Naruto and kissing the boy's lips that he'd missed all day.

Naruto let out a small hum of approval as Itachi’s lips closed over his, holding onto the bag tightly so as not to drop it. He smiled when the raven pulled away and moved into the kitchen so he could put the food down.

He found himself to be rather hungry after smelling the food, something he still wasn’t quite used to after all the time he’d spent hardly eating. He began to unpack the bag as soon as it was put down on the counter.

Itachi busied himself with plates and utensils and set them down on the table where the food was. He told the blonde what each dish was and let his lover pick before plating the food and putting a kettle on the stove for some tea. Once the tea was ready they sat down and began to eat. Itachi had to hand it to his friend, he was a wonderful cook. "How is it?" he asked after a few minutes into the meal.

Naruto had pulled his legs up so he was sitting cross legged and had been eating with gusto. He took a long drink before he was able to talk, having had a giant mouthful of food. “It’s so good,” Naruto beamed, going right back to eating afterwards.

Itachi smiled and continued to eat himself. After they had finished, Itachi stored the leftovers in his lover's fridge and washed whatever needed to be washed quickly before taking Naruto's hand and heading into the living room. "Did you finish all your homework yet?" he asked as he sat on the couch.

Naruto flopped onto the couch beside Itachi and moved close, pressing into his side. “Not yet,” he sighed. “I don’t have much more though.” He could feel a weight in his pocket, the item scratching against his leg whenever he moved. It was something he’d decided to give Itachi but he wanted to wait for the right time, even if it wasn’t anything really special.

Itachi leaned over and picked up the book the blonde had obviously been reading before he came over. "You know the rules." he said with a smile before handing him the book and taking out his own.

Naruto only smiled back, used to Itachi’s homework rules. He snuggled against the older man as he settled down to finish the reading. It was all he had left to complete anyway and he didn’t think it would take him that long. The fact that he would get to spend the rest of the time focused solely on Itachi made him happy and motivated him.

The raven became lost in his book and didn't notice once Naruto had finally finished, he did notice though when he felt lips on his neck. He jumped a bit and then looked down at his lover who was smirking up at him. He just chuckled and captured the boy's lips as he stroked blonde locks. "Do you know how cute you are?" he asked as he looked down at the now red faced blonde.

“I’m not cute,” Naruto mumbled, but he was smiling anyway. Chewing on his lip, he decided that now was probably the best time. Grasping the raven’s book, he set it gently to the side, making sure the page was marked and then climbed into his lap, straddling his thighs. Taking a deep breath, he turned crystal blue eyes on Itachi. “I have something for you...”

Itachi's eyebrow rose at Naruto's words. He was already used to the boy straddling his lap, so that was nothing new. "Really?" he asked as he ran his fingertips down one of the blonde's scarred cheeks. "What?"

Naruto’s cheeks flushed but he slipped a hand into his pocket to pull the item out, keeping it concealed in his fist. “I wanted you to have this,” he said quietly. “If you want it...” His stomach fluttered as he turned his hand over and opened it, revealing a key in his palm. His gaze stayed on Itachi’s face, wanting to see his reaction.

Itachi knew immediately what the item in question was and he immediately wrapped his arms around his lover. "You really want me to have this?" he whispered, suddenly filled with emotion. This was a big step in their relationship and he knew Naruto probably had a hard time deciding if it was a good decision.

“Yeah, I want you to have it,” Naruto said without hesitation. He had actually thought long and hard about it but there was never any doubt whether he wanted to give it to Itachi or not. The only thing he had hesitated over was wondering if it was too soon and if the raven wouldn’t even want his spare house key. “Do you... do you want it?”

Itachi pulled back from his lover and looked him in the eyes. "Of course I want it." He looked around the room and snatched up Naruto's notebook before ripping out a small square and writing a number on it. "I'd love for you to take this too... It's the code for my house. I know you probably won't use it that often but if you ever get a car one of these days you can come over whenever you want."

Naruto smiled brightly as he took the piece of paper from Itachi. He would cherish it; put it somewhere that it wouldn’t get lost. The fact that the raven trusted him with the security code for his house made him so happy that he couldn’t even think of a way to express it properly.

Grabbing Itachi’s hand, he placed the key in the older man’s palm and folded it closed before leaning forward to kiss him.

Itachi kissed his lover and let his arms slide around Naruto's waist again before separating his lips from the blonde's. "So... now that we've had our emotional part of the evening, what would you like to do?"

Naruto shrugged. “I don’t know. We never really do anything except hang out here... or at your house. Watch TV, I guess?” He climbed from Itachi’s lap and settled himself on the couch between the raven and the arm, pressing close once more. He really didn’t mind that they couldn’t really go out anywhere together. As long as he was with the older man, he was happy.

Itachi smiled. "Sounds good to me." He grabbed the remote from the table and flipped on Naruto's rather small television; not that he minded it being small. He flipped through until he settled on some sort of movie and set the remote down on Naruto's leg so the boy could change it if he wished.

He wrapped an arm around his lover and pulled a blanket from the end of couch over them so they would be more comfortable. It was nice to just relax once in a while.

Relaxing against Itachi, Naruto tried his best to focus on the movie, which did look interesting. He stretched his legs out, resting his feet on the coffee table that lay in front of the couch. He busied himself with the movie for a bit, which was some action drama thing, just enjoying the feeling of being in Itachi’s arms.

It wasn't long before Itachi started to doze off and he only woke up due to Naruto moving against him. He looked at the TV and realized that movie had come to an end and was surprised he had slept so long. "I'm sorry baby, seemed I fell asleep. I must be more tired than I thought."

“It’s fine,” Naruto shrugged. “I was just watching the movie anyway.” Picking up the remote, he flicked through the channels to see if anything else was on. There wasn’t much else but some horror movie so he left that on. He sat up a bit to stretch, rolling his shoulders and letting out a soft moan, his body sore from sitting for so long.

Itachi looked at the time and frowned, it was getting late and he couldn't really stay over on a weekday. "Hey baby, I should probably get going." He really didn't want to go but he still had a few things to do at home.

“Tell what happened after you talk to the principal tomorrow ok?" he wrapped his arms around Naruto and kissed the boy's cheek lightly before stretching himself and getting up.

Naruto got up from the couch and followed Itachi to the door, leaning against the wall beside it. “‘Kay, I will.” He smiled at the raven, though he was a little sad to see him go. It was easier now than at the beginning of course, because he knew he would see Itachi the next day and didn’t see it stopping in the future.

Itachi leaned down to kiss his lover before heading out the door. He took out the blonde's apartment key and connected it to his keychain before smiling faintly and headed to his car.

Naruto locked the door behind Itachi and went to the kitchen to get a drink, turning all the lights off before heading back to the couch to watch the movie he’d found. He actually really liked horror movies, though he didn’t watch them nearly enough. Lying down across the length of the couch, he pulled the blanket around him that still smelled faintly of Itachi and relaxed.

TBC
The relationship is progressing XD Hope you enjoyed. Sorry it was so short but the next chapter will most likely be longer