Art and Artifice

Art and Artifice
chapter 14

The following Saturday, Itachi came back again as promised. Haku had badgered Naruto into bringing up the idea of a double date with himself and Zabuza. He was dying to see the two together and now that his friend had a date, he could finally go out with both his friend and his boyfriend without having to worry about Naruto feeling like a third wheel. It was all very exciting. When Naruto put the question to Itachi, the older boy had agreed readily, citing the fact that he had taken control last time so whatever the blond wanted to do would be fine. It was only fair.

"But you chose what do based specifically on what you thought 'I' would like," Naruto pointed out.

"I could have been wrong," came the casual rebuttal.

"But you 'knew' you weren't." Itachi just smirked.

They had all agreed on a restaurant to meet at and Naruto and Itachi got there first and waited at the table where they were seated. Before long Naruto caught sight of his friends weaving through the tables toward them. Zabuza was an especially easy person to spot in a crowd. Itachi stood up politely while the introductions were made and was somewhat surprised to find himself looking 'up' at the diminutive Haku's boyfriend. Itachi himself was a fairly tall man but Zabuza had him beat by several inches. He was also broad of shoulder and just powerfully built all around. Itachi wondered how he managed not to break his partner but little Haku looked supremely happy in the presence of his formidable boyfriend.

In order to get the ball rolling and hopefully avoid any awkwardness, Haku began some light conversation by asking Itachi how things were going for him at school. Itachi explained that he had just finished his classes as the semester ended sooner for the university than for the high schools. However, he and two other students were having a group show at the on campus gallery soon, so he had to stick around and prepare for that. He then decided that etiquette demanded that he ask Zabuza about what he did with himself. It turned out that Zabuza ran a pool hall. This, Itachi found, was a very easy image to conjure up in his head. Zabuza was a fairly serious personage and generally a man of few words. He and Itachi took to each other right away, though the average person would have had to look very closely to see it. Naruto and Haku picked right up on it of course and both were very pleased.

All in all dinner went quite splendidly. Itachi was regaled with the story of Haku and Zabuza's meeting. Something he was sure anybody that saw them together would be curious about. Who knew Haku was a pool shark? Haku and Naruto fell into their own discussion, to which the two older men listened quietly, sharing a few silent communications at appropriate moments. Itachi enjoyed it all greatly. When the meal was long finished and their coffee refills had run dry. The cheques were called for and Itachi paid for both himself and Naruto despite the blond's assertions that he should at least pay for himself.

The younger boys had decided that it would be fun to go out dancing. It was something that they hadn't had the chance to do for some time.

"Haku has been trying to teach me to dance for awhile," said the blond, "but I should warn you that I'm definitely not the best at it."

"You've gotten way better Kyuubi," Haku cut in. "You could 'always' dance. It's not like you don't have rhythm. All I was showing you was some actual, recognized steps."

"I'm not nearly as good as you though. Haku's great at practically everything." Zabuza grinned wolfishly at this, pulling the small brunet closer against his side.

"That's true." His gruff voice sounded quite smug. Itachi smirked and Naruto laughed. It was nice to see Haku doing the blushing for once and the blond wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to tease a little.

The place that they chose was a favorite with them mainly for the fact that it didn't tend to use much of the over-played recent hits on the radio, preferring an older or more obscure song set. They didn't always stick with the same genre either, making for a more interesting variety. Reaching the dance floor, Zabuza mainly stood looking cool and intimidating, doing as little as possible while Haku danced around him. (or up against him) Itachi found that once again, Naruto had downplayed his true ability. After the first few nervous moments the Uchiha had grabbed his blond partner unexpectedly and sent him into a spin, catching him in a cliche dip. Naruto had laughed himself near tears and from then on he loosened up completely and just let himself flow with the music. He proceeded to put Itachi's stamina to the test as they continued on song after song.

Eventually though, they took a little break and found Zabuza and Haku already resting up at a high round table just next to the dance floor. Naruto grabbed two other seats from another table and dragged them over while Itachi went up to the bar to pick up a couple of bottles of water. They all sat together, watching the people on the floor and rating their 'moves' for about ten minutes until the opening strains of a latin number began to pump through the speakers.

"Oh I love this song!" Haku exclaimed, jumping up immediately. "Come on!" He tugged on his boyfriend's hand but Zabuza simply held up his beer, giving it a little shake to indicate that he wanted to just sit this one out and finish his drink. Seeing that the huge man wasn't budging, Haku turned to his blond friend. "Are you coming Kyuu chan?" Naruto laughed.

"Second fiddle huh? I see how it is." Haku grabbed his hand and he hopped down off of his stool letting himself be led out onto the dance floor. Itachi automatically stood to follow his date but found himself stopped by a large, rough hand held out in front of him. He looked questioningly over to Zabuza. The man was looking back with a mischevious smirk. He cocked his head silently in the direction of their two dates on the floor. Itachi, taking the hint, reseated himself and the burly man settled back in his own seat to watch the show, his smirk widening. The Uchiha let his own gaze search out his date and was instantly fixated. Watching those two small, lithe bodies working and winding around each other, the contrast of colors, the sweat glistening on their skin was an absolute masterpiece.

"Damn..." His soft exclamation was answered by a grunt of agreement from the hulking man beside him. As the song came to a close it became apparent that they weren't the only ones taking notice of the two boys on the dance floor. Itachi frowned as more than one guy crossed the floor to boldly ask either the blond or his friend to dance. He stood abruptly and made his way over to Naruto, Zabuza not far behind. Gracefully the Uchiha cut in and danced his partner off into the crowd. Zabuza, he noted with amusement, wasted no energy on tact, simply shoving his would-be competition out of the way. Haku took this in stride, shaking his head fondly at his possessive gorilla of a boyfriend.

When the time came to part ways, Naruto thanked his friends for coming out with them and Itachi shook hands with Zabuza expressing his sincere pleasure at their meeting. They all agreed to do something together again soon and with a quick hug and a final wave between the younger boys they were off to their separate vehicles.

"I might have known you and Zabuza would get along so well," said Naruto as they were driving away. He suddenly pictured Itachi, Zabuza and Raidou in a room together and cracked up. Itachi glanced over and gave him a strange but amused look.

"I like Haku a lot too. You pick out some good friends." Naruto beamed once again.

"Now 'that' is an excellent compliment."

When they pulled up outside of Naruto's building, Itachi walked him to the door. The blond suddenly grew a little bit shy and Itachi smiled fondly at him.

"Naruto? I realize we've never actually defined...this yet. I would like to make myself clear right now. I want to ask you to be my boyfriend officially, exclusively." Naruto's eyes lit up, the smile spreading slowly until it took over his face completely, radiating like the sun.

"Of course I will," he answered quietly. Two small tanned hands lifted to Itachi's face and drew him down as the blond stood up on his toes. Itachi allowed him to control the chaste press of lips for the first moment or two before wrapping both arms around the boy's waist and taking advantage of his slight surprise to slip his tongue easily into a soft, warm wet mouth. The unique flavor overwhelmed his senses as Naruto allowed him to explore and hesitantly returned the caress of his tongue. Soft and salty-sweet just as he remembered. Naruto's hands had slid from Itachi's face to the back of his head, fingers threading into the hair at his nape sending a tingle over his scalp. He gave a low hum of approval and set his own hands to slowly massaging the blond's curving lower back. With a quiet whining noise, Naruto involuntarily arched back into the soothing touch and felt Itachi's lips pull away for breath, resting their foreheads together. The older boy chuckled before pressing a gentle kiss to either cheek and the tip of his boyfriend's cute little nose. Naruto's sparkling blue eyes opened, encompassing his entire view from so close up.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" he asked.

"Most definitely," Itachi answered with a smirk. Naruto unlocked and opened his door, then turned back around and kissed Itachi one last time.

"Goodnight," he whispered. Itachi nodded and watched him move inside and close the door behind him.

"Goodnight Naruto."

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Sasuke was getting himself a last glass of juice before bed. He looked up as he heard someone coming into the kitchen and almost did a double take at Itachi. His brother was smiling, actually smiling in a way he couldn't remember ever seeing before.

"Where have you been?" he asked automatically although he had a pretty good idea of the answer.

"With Naruto," came the simple reply.

"Ridiculous," Sasuke muttered darkly. "I don't know what you could possibly see in that freak." He really 'didn't' understand it. What could Itachi be so happy about. Then again, he mused, had his last girlfriend been as quiet as Naruto, he probably wouldn't have dumped her so quickly. Itachi's response jerked him out of his thoughts for the moment.

"Sasuke... Shut the hell up." His tone was infuriatingly casual.

"Why should I shut up if you haven't listened to me? You never listen!" he accused.

"No I don't, and I can't now. It's late and I have to get to sleep so I can see Naruto tomorrow," said Itachi serenely. "Goodnight little brother."




A/N; There you go kkk. Give the people what they want. I wanted to throw some Zabu/Haku in. I just love imagining the dynamics of that relationship. I liken it to a big, dangerous animal and his beloved tamer. lol