Fine Lines

Fine Lines Ch. 14
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The shrill of the alarm clock woke Naruto at the usual time the next morning. He lazily pulled himself from bed and dressed before going into the living room to pack up his completed homework. After a quick bite to eat, he made his way to school.

He was extremely nervous about seeing the principal. He’d slept fitfully the night before, wondering what she could possibly want with him. So, he made his way to her office first thing and knocked quietly on the door.

The blonde woman blinked once before telling Naruto to enter, knowing it was him after all, and sat back in her chair expectantly.

Naruto shyly opened the door and then entered the office, seeing the principal sitting behind her desk. A flutter of nervousness filled his stomach but he crossed the room and sat in one of the chairs before her desk. His bag was placed on the floor between his feet and his hands in his lap as he waited.

Tsunade looked at Naruto as he stepped through the door. Something had troubled her, something that one of the teachers had mentioned about Naruto. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions until she spoke with the blonde first and the information did come from a less than trustworthy source, but it was her job to investigate these types of accusations, or suspicions at least.

"How's school going lately Naruto? Has it been helpful to have Itachi as a tutor?" she asked as she smiled at him to possibly make him feel a bit more comfortable. "I've been hearing good things from your teachers."

“It’s going good,” Naruto smiled, though it was small and shy. “He has helped me a lot.” He didn’t want to let on anything so he decided that it was best not to say too much about Itachi. He sometimes couldn’t control his expression when he thought about his lover.

The woman nodded. "That's great Naruto, I'm glad you're starting to do better. But I did have something brought up to me that seemed a bit odd..." She paused before continuing. "Have any of your teachers been acting differently toward you or made you feel uncomfortable?" She had to go about this carefully, not wanting to give away the reason she was asking.

“No...” Naruto frowned. His mind was racing. Did someone tell her about his relationship with Itachi? He tried his best to control his breathing but his heart did quicken with panic. “No, none of them have.”

She nodded once more and sighed before resting her chin in a hand. "What about Itachi? I know you work closely with him... I really hate to ask you this Naruto, but has he ever... done anything to you?" she shook her head, not even believing she had to do this; but when someone lets her in on that kind of information, it was her job as a principal to follow up on it or she could lose her own job.

Naruto looked up at the principal, trying to remain calm. “No, he hasn’t. All he does is help me with homework.” He could only hope his expression and his voice were convincing.

She looked at him hard for a moment and then closed her eyes. "I figured as much. I'm really sorry but when accusations come up I have to ask." She stood up and walked to the door to open it. "You can go, sorry about this." she said with a slight smile.

Naruto picked up his bag and mumbled a goodbye before leaving the office. He went straight to his locker and stashed his bag inside before leaning against the metal, closing his eyes as he tried to calm his racing heart. Itachi wasn’t going to be happy when he heard. He could only imagine the reaction of the older raven.

Tsunade leaned against the wall for a moment trying to reign in her anger at the person who had given her the tip off and decided to go have a small chat with him. She closed her office door before locking it and marched off in the direction where she knew he would be.

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Itachi sat in his office before school with thoughts running rampant through his head about what the principal could possibly be talking to Naruto about. He knew he told the blonde not to worry but in all honesty, Itachi himself was worried. What if someone else had seem them outside school? What if Sasuke actually did tell...? He sighed and rested his head on his folded arms. Hopefully Naruto would show up soon.

After he was relatively calm, Naruto walked slowly to Itachi’s classroom, dreading the thought of telling him. It wouldn’t be an easy conversation, that’s for sure. He wasn’t sure if the raven would even be there but he decided to try anyway. Entering the room, he went directly to Itachi’s office and knocked on the door.

The man practically jumped out of his skin at the knock and hurried to open the door. He smiled at seeing his lover and closed the door behind him. "How did it go?" he asked as he leaned against his desk.

Naruto entered the office and stood before Itachi. He decided it might be best to get right to it. “She asked me if you had ever... made a move on me. Of course I said no and I think she believed me but...” He took a deep breath, afraid of the raven’s reaction. “She said someone told her...”

Itachi wanted to hit something right then and there... But he refrained from any outward signs of distress. "I don't know who would have seen us. Sasuke seemed to be ok with it to some extent after you two talked." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, a habit he really needed to break. "She didn't say who told her?"

“No, she didn’t say. I think she believed me though.” The blond was relatively sure that he’d been convincing but still, the troubled look on Itachi’s face didn’t make him feel any better. He had no idea as to who could have seen them either. They were careful; they didn’t even go out in public!

Itachi sat down in a chair and just took a moment to think. Even though they didn't know who did it, the man had a pretty good idea. Although he couldn't say for sure, but if it was who he was thinking of, that particular person hated the History teacher and probably wanted him fired. That man was none other than Orochimaru... Again he wasn't sure, but still... "Naruto... You told me that your chemistry teacher's been giving you more attention lately right?" He kept his face neutral so as not to allude to anything with expressions.

“Yeah. Why? Do you think it was him?” Naruto looked up at Itachi, searching his face. He thought of the teacher in question but he couldn’t really see him going to the principal. How would he know, anyway?

"I know Sasuke talks to him a lot and I also know that Orochimaru's very manipulative." Itachi stood up again and leaned against the desk once more, not seeming to be able to sit still. "He's not a very nice person Naruto. I can just see him getting Sasuke to say something, anything about you and I and he can twist it into something else..."

He thought about it for a moment again. What the hell were they going to do? If they kept going on like this Orochimaru would definitely find out eventually or just force Sasuke to tell him. He always hated that Sasuke spent so much time with the teacher... But on the other hand he didn't want to hurt Naruto. His lover had done nothing wrong and it would be unfair to... He shook his head; he needed to think about it. "Could you come over after school, we should probably talk about this more."

Itachi’s tone of voice scared him but he trusted him. He was sure that the raven wouldn’t leave him. They would just have to be even more careful, right? “Yeah. Should I meet you at your car or something?”

Itachi shook his head. "You should probably have Sasuke drive you... I don't want to risk it right now." He looked at the clock and realized it was almost time for the first bell to ring. "You better get to class, I don't want you to be late; I love you." he said before turning away and busying himself with gathering his materials for his first class, finding it too hard to look at his lover at the moment.

Cold panic welled up in the pit of his stomach with Itachi’s voice. “Love you too,” he whispered before leaving. He shut the office door quietly behind him and made his way to his locker to gather his things for his first class. He would have to find Sasuke later and ask for a ride, something he hated to do. Sighing, he closed his locker and moved off to his first class.

The day went by slowly for Itachi and he hated it. He couldn't get the thoughts to stop tormenting him and had a hard time teaching. The majority of the day was having the students read on their own or doing worksheets or just plain studying.
When Naruto's class came in the raven didn't even look at the blonde, not wanting to be reminded of the huge decision he had to make. He never wanted to hurt the blonde.... but if it meant saving them both tons of trouble, he may just have to.

Naruto’s heart plummeted when he reached his history class and Itachi wouldn’t even look at him. He had thought the raven wouldn’t want to end it but now he was doubting himself. He tried his best to concentrate but it was really a lost cause.

When class ended, he gathered his books and left right away. He decided to go in search of Sasuke to see if he could secure a ride later.

The spiky haired raven stood by his locker lost in thought. He wasn't sure what the hell was going on. Tsunade had asked to talk to him yesterday saying something about Itachi and Naruto. Of course he denied it, not wanting to get his brother in trouble. But then when Orochimaru had seen how upset he was over the visit to the principal, he had asked Sasuke what was wrong.

Of course Sasuke had no problem opening up to the chemistry teacher and had told him about the visit and about his jealousy toward Itachi. He wouldn't dare say anything about what was really going on though for obvious reasons. But still... maybe Orochimaru had said something. He had kind of hinted at the fact that he might... The young Uchiha hoped he hadn't made a huge mistake.

Naruto spotted Sasuke by his locker and quietly approached him. He could tell the teen was lost in thought and he didn’t want to scare him so he spoke quietly... “Sasuke?” When he had the younger raven’s attention, he spoke again. “Can you uh, give me a ride to your house after school?”

Sasuke looked at the blonde and just nodded. "I guess." he said before closing his locker and walking past the blonde while grabbing his arm to have him walk with him. "If anything happens between you and my brother... you know, like something bad, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to." with that the raven took off, heading to his next class.

Naruto stopped, watching Sasuke walk away from him. Had he done something? There was no reason for him to say something like that if he hadn’t... With a heavy heart, he moved to his locker to grab what he needed for the next class. It was going to be a long day.

Itachi arrived home fairly quickly from school but it seemed Sasuke still beat him there. Hopefully Naruto was able to get a ride. The older raven had thought long and hard about what he was going to do and it really wasn't avoidable. He just hoped it wouldn’t ruin anything permanently.

He punched in the key code and opened the door seeing Naruto immediately in the living room. He headed over there and sat down on the couch next to his lover. "Hey." he said, offering a smile before hugging the blonde close.

"Hey.” Naruto’s arms wrapped around Itachi to return the hug but he didn’t let go. After having such a terrible day he just wanted to be close. He felt relief wash through him; Itachi seemed normal enough and he was happy to be in his arms once more.

The raven felt terrible for what he was about to do, but it was for the best. He held the boy close to him and leaned back so they were reclined a bit against the couch. "Naruto, baby, you know I love you... Don't ever have any doubt of that." He ran his fingers through his lover's hair. "But I think it’s best if we just, stick to being teacher and student. Things are just too difficult right now."

Naruto froze as he let the information absorb. Itachi really was breaking up with him? Sorrow and panic clenched his heart like a vice and he opened his mouth to speak but closed it immediately. What could he say? What was there to say? Itachi didn’t want to be with him.

His throat felt as though it was cut off and he couldn’t get enough air; he was suffocating as feelings – hurt, anger, panic, fear – ran though his body and he didn’t know what to do. “Okay,” he whispered, all he could manage in his shock.

Itachi felt tears escape his eyes and he held on to his now ex-boyfriend. "I'm so sorry... I love you so much; I just don't want you to get hurt if anyone were to really find out. Please don't think I don't want to be with you, that's not it. I just..." he couldn’t go on and buried his face in the blonde's neck, trying to hold back his own sorrow.

Naruto sat still, unable to do anything. It was as though he wasn’t really there, wasn’t in control of his body anymore; he didn’t even know if he was still breathing. He could hear Itachi’s words and feel his tears soaking his skin but it sounded so far away. The words ‘Itachi really broke up with me’ resounded in his head and it was all he could concentrate on.

He wanted to leave, wanted to run away from it all, wanted to wake up and realize that it was all a dream and Itachi hadn’t really said those words. But he knew it wasn’t a dream and the raven had indeed said those words to him. “I think I should go...”

He heard and felt the words come from his mouth but it didn’t even sound like him; it was a strangled version of him. And then he felt himself moving from Itachi’s arms and grabbing his bag, his feet carrying him towards the door. But he didn’t want to leave, didn’t want it to be true...

Itachi felt the blonde leave his arms, heard the words he spoke and followed him immediately. "Please don't hate me..." he blurted out just before Naruto came to the door.”I just want to protect you." His voice came out in a choked whisper that he couldn’t control; it was as if his anguish was taking over his entire body. He knew Naruto would take it hard but the raven didn't imagine how much it would hurt.

Naruto paused with his hand on the doorknob but he couldn’t say anything and couldn’t bring himself to look at Itachi. He wanted to tell the raven that he didn’t hate him but he had no voice. He was screaming at himself mentally, telling himself that he had to say something... had to let Itachi know that it was okay but it wasn’t. It wasn’t okay and he felt as though it never would be.

After fumbling with the door for a moment, he managed to get it open and walked onto the porch, surprisingly steady on his feet. He made his way down the stairs and turned towards his apartment complex, at least he thought it was the right direction. He didn’t even look back as he disappeared down the street, knowing he was leaving his heart further behind with each step.

Itachi didn't try to follow Naruto. He knew the blonde just needed some time. It was probably a huge shock that he never saw coming and it only made the raven's heart break more. He found Sasuke and told him to give Naruto a ride home since their places of residence were pretty far away from each other. Itachi had tried to make himself look presentable before speaking to his brother but he could tell that Sasuke knew what had happened.

The boy just nodded and said nothing as he quickly headed out the door.

Naruto walked automatically in the direction he thought his apartment complex was in, but it was as if he still wasn’t in control of his body. He didn’t know what was going on around him, his eyes wide but unseeing. He vaguely noticed cars whizzing past him on the streets, people passing by him but it was all a blur.

The thought that Itachi hadn’t stopped him, hadn’t called him back... It was almost unbearable and tears started to brim then, threatening to spill. His entire body was shaking and he didn’t know how he would make it all the way home.

Sasuke pulled up beside Naruto and called out to him but the blonde seemed in a trance and the raven had to park quickly and get out to grab his brother's now ex-lover by the arm. "Let me give you a ride home." he said as he led Naruto toward his car, noticing how pliant the other boy was, almost not even caring what was done to him.

Naruto’s fogged mind registered that he was being led towards a car and he could vaguely make out Sasuke’s form. Why was he there? Did it matter what happened to him? It’s not like he had anyone to care anymore. He felt himself be placed inside the car and he sat frozen in the seat, hearing the loud bang of the door being shut behind him.

Sasuke sat there for a moment, not turning the car back on quite yet. "Are you alright?" Sasuke asked quietly. When he got no response he continued. "You know Itachi still loves you... I know he does, it broke his heart to do that to you."

The name was a cruel jab in the heart. He didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to hear that he was still loved. It didn’t matter, nothing mattered anymore. He turned away slightly so he was facing the window as tears began to track down his face without his control.

His throat was sticky and words wouldn’t come out, only choked sobs as his body finally let him release his pent up sorrow. He felt bad that he was unleashing his pain upon Sasuke but he couldn’t stop.

The raven, acting on some weird instinct, wrapped his arms around Naruto, feeling that he had to do something. He didn't care if the blonde fought him off, it actually made him feel like some kind of horrible person when he saw this boy cry. Luckily Naruto didn't fight him off and he held on to the blonde and hoped he was getting at least some comfort.

He didn't say anything else though, knowing that Naruto didn't want to hear any of it and just stayed quiet, trying to be a support system of some sort but still feeling like he was marginally responsible.

Naruto wasn’t able to hold himself back and he let himself go. His body shook violently, his tears soaking into the younger raven’s shirt. His chest ached, his lungs struggling for breath as the scene from earlier played in his mind repeatedly.

Eventually he began to calm down a bit and he pulled himself from Sasuke’s arms, turning back towards the window. The raven haired teen only reminded him of Itachi.

Sasuke really was at a loss. He didn't know what to do. He felt a bit weird with leaving the blonde by himself and didn't really want to be responsible if Naruto did something stupid. "Are you going to be ok by yourself? I can... um... stay with you for a bit..."

Naruto only shook his head, not quite trusting himself to speak yet. He didn’t want Sasuke in his apartment; he didn’t even want to be with him now. The younger raven reminded him too much of Itachi. He just wanted to go home, curl up in his bed and never leave.

Sasuke sighed and started his car. He drove toward the blonde's apartment, knowing where it was from having to drop off a homework assignment to him a few months ago via his brother's insistence.

He pulled into the parking lot and turned to the blonde again. "Are you sure you'll be ok by yourself? I feel kind of weird just leaving you alone."

Naruto nodded once more and gathered his bag. He grabbed the door handle and opened it, getting out. He looked back at Sasuke once, wanting to let him know that he was actually grateful for the comfort but he didn’t think he’d pulled it off.

Pulling the bag over his shoulder, he shut the door and moved towards his apartment, knowing he was going to break down fully as soon as he was through the threshold.

Sasuke saw the utter pain that etched Naruto's features as he looked at him. He had a feeling that he was trying to make him feel better but in all honesty, Sasuke wasn't even sure Naruto even cared anymore. He watched the blonde enter his apartment before driving off back home, needing to talk to his brother; the guilt of what he may have caused overtaking him suddenly.

As soon as Naruto made it through the door, he locked it and dropped his bag on the floor. He didn’t even bother to remove his shoes before striding through the unnervingly silent apartment and making his way to his bedroom, collapsing on the bed, he pulled himself into the fetal position, hugging his pillow as he let the anguish take hold of him once more.

TBC
And the climax!!! Well, maybe lol