Art and Artifice

Art and Artifice
chapter 15

Uzumaki Naruto was on cloud nine. He had just had the most fabulous weekend ever. Itachi had even brought him breakfast on Sunday. Then he had driven Naruto to work where Raidou had just smiled at his un-contained exuberance and told him to get lost.

"Are you sure?" he had asked in surprise.

"Of course I'm sure. You've got the day off. Go do something fun."

So he and Itachi had spent the whole day together. The Uchiha had driven them out of the city and they took a long walk through the rural fields and forests, ending up on the grassy top of a huge hill with an absolutely breathtaking view of everything for miles around. There was a lake stretched out just below them and Naruto could see the shining ribbon of the creek that fed it winding away through the trees. He hadn't been out of the city since he had moved to this country years ago and it was like he could feel a long buried part of himself coming to life again just breathing the air. They'd stopped at a farm that sold their own produce from a stand by the road on the way back. They picked up some apples and wheel of cheese and sat on the hood of the car to munch away, Itachi commenting jokingly that the scent of manure in the air really brought out the flavor. Naruto had laughed and kissed him and the food had swiftly been forgotten for awhile as they ended up making out all over the hood of the car. Later in the evening they had decided to go to a movie and ended up seeing Apocolypto which they both enjoyed thoroughly and discussed for over an hour afterward. Naruto didn't think he could have asked for a more perfect weekend from start to finish.

He had also had an inspiration for a new piece for the school's annual art show. He couldn't wait to get started on it now. Haku had just been told all about why Naruto was in such a good mood and had finished squealing about his friend having an 'official' boyfriend. Now he was busy trying to get Naruto to tell him what his next piece was going to be. Naruto would do nothing more than smile mysteriously and tell his curious friend that he would have to wait and see when it was finished. Haku pouted comically but it disappeared a moment later.

"Well guess what I 'have' seen?" he asked with a grin.

"What?" the blond questioned absently as he worked the combination to his locker.

"Ino's pictures!" Naruto's eyes widened and a blush instantly flooded his face as the exclamation registered.

"Oh god, you saw them?" his head shot around to the side to see the grinning Haku nodding vigorously. He bit down on his lower lip, gnawing a bit, then took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. "Dare I ask?"

"They're amazing! You've got to look at them. I was so impressed and she made you look 'wicked' cool!"

"Honestly, I really do want to see them. I'm only a 'little' nervous and I realize how irrational even that is. Ino had some great ideas and I know she did an amazing job. I'll have to ask her about them in art class."

"She wanted me to help her weed them out, but I had some serious trouble deciding which ones were the best. She's probably going to want your opinion too now." The sound of two locker doors slamming almost simultaneously echoed through the nearly empty hall as both boys turned away, shouldering their bags. They were met with the unwelcome sight of Uchiha Sasuke, arms crossed and expression grim.

"You... I want to know the 'exact' nature of your association with my brother." As usual, Naruto simply remained silent but this time Sasuke wasn't going to just leave it at that.

"Don't you pull this shit. I know you're not some kind of mute. I asked you a question and you'd damn well better answer!" At this point Haku finally lost his cool. This had gone on unchecked for long enough.

"It's none of your goddamn business Bastard!" he shouted. "He can do whatever he wants. Now step the fuck off!" Grabbing the completely awestruck blond by his hoody, Haku stomped off down the hall with his friend in tow. Neither looked back to see the outraged shock that poured almost tangibly off of the youngest Uchiha.

"Haku!!" the blond started when he had snapped out of his stupor. Haku had begun pacing. It seemed he had a lot of steam to work off.

"I know, I know, but it just had to be said!" the brunet ran an agitated hand through his long hair. "You can't expect me to just stand there listening to him making these ridiculous demands. Not when I know 'you' won't do a thing about it. I just..."

"I can't believe you said the F word!" Naruto exclaimed with childish amazement. Haku stopped short, looked incredulously at his friend and burst into a bout of uncontrollable laughter. Suddenly catching on Naruto began to giggle and soon he had dropped to his knees beside a helpless Haku who was literally rolling on the floor.

"Oh man that was priceless," Haku gasped from his place on the floor. Naruto stood up and reached down to lend his friend a hand. Haku pulled himself up and began to dust off his clothes, still giggling sporadically.

"You know what? Never mind that freaking moron. Just do what ever you want and he can go cry about it in a corner somewhere," he advised. Naruto grinned at the mental image.

"Don't worry Haku. I have every intention of doing just that."

Over the next couple of weeks Naruto remained true to his word. He and Itachi had continued to talk on the phone almost everyday. They never seemed to run out of things to say. They also saw each other every weekend and just last weekend Naruto had gone down to Konoha to see Itachi's gallery exhibition. He had missed the opening of course as that had taken place on a Thursday and he had school and work, but Naruto had never been big on the openings anyway. It was always much too crowded and a lot of people just seemed to be there for the free food. He had been very impressed with Itachi's work. He found that Itachi's sculpture seemed to be especially inviting to touch. The older boy had agreed, explaining that the tactile quality was what had drawn him into sculpture more than anything else. He liked to work so directly with his hands, to shape an object and feel it beneath his fingers. It gave him a deep feeling of connection. Naruto had told him that it showed and had run his own hands all over Itachi's work, taking in every detail and becoming completely absorbed. When he finally turned around, he found intense dark eyes staring at him in a way that made his pulse quicken. They had left the gallery directly after that and spent an inordinate amount of time in the car, not going anywhere. Naruto was flushed for almost the entire ride home. Damn that man was a phenomenal kisser!

His problems with Sasuke however, were continuing to escalate. The Bastard was becoming more bold in his attempts to win over Kyuubi, but of course at this point whatever slim tolerance Naruto might have had for him was dissolving completely. After weeks of being continually shot down, Sasuke was becoming very frustrated and consequently he had been taking out that frustration by giving Naruto more trouble than ever at school. Naruto just retaliated by being all the more merciless when the bastard came in to hit on Kyuubi. He and Haku had loads of laughs at the Uchiha's expense, in between cursing him to hell and back.

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Naruto put away all his art supplies and stopped to look over his work one last time. He let out a soft sigh, glad that the piece was nearing completion. He was the last one out of the art classroom so he turned out the lights as he left, and began his daily walk to work. He pulled off his hoody and shoved it into his nondescript bag when he reached the street where Shuriken Studios was situated, as had become his routine of late. He never knew when the Bastard might show up out of nowhere and he'd already had a couple of near misses. When Shuriken came into view, Sasuke was indeed standing outside of the door. Naruto rolled his eyes heavenward and asked the gods for patience.

"You're scaring away all the paying customers you know," he said by way of announcing himself.

"Ah, but I 'am' a paying customer today," Sasuke retorted with a smirk. Naruto was actually surprised.

"Really? You've decided to get a tattoo?"

"That's right, and of course 'you'll' be the one to give it to me." The blond frowned and walked past him into the shop. He tossed his bag behind the counter and stood still for a moment staring at the wall. Then with sigh he asked what image the Uchiha wanted to get and where. Sasuke told him he wanted a red Chinese dragon on his shoulder. Naruto sighed once again at the lack of originality.

"Are you really sure?" he asked carefully.

"If that's what it takes to get your hands on me," said the smug Sasuke. He seemed to think he was quite clever. Naruto grit his teeth, muttering about how lame this was but went through all the usual preparations. The Uchiha slid into the seat with an exaggerated grace that might have seemed sexy to someone else but only sent Naruto's eyes rolling. The tattooist was tempted more than once during the process to mess it up on purpose, but sadly, he took too much pride in his work to do such a thing. Or so he told himself. Truthfully it also had a lot to do with the fact that he couldn't bring himself to be mean to anybody in a way that would leave a lasting mark.

It wasn't as if this was the first time Naruto had had to work on someone who stared at him unnervingly and kept making suggestive comments every two seconds. Sasuke just used all the same old lines that he'd heard before. He managed to ignore it all and focus on the task at hand quite nicely and the poor Bastard was left disappointed by 'his Kyuubi's' professionalism. He left the shop with a bandaged shoulder and no further satisfaction on the romantic front than when he'd arrived.


A/N; Going to a tattoo festival next week yay! I've got to come up with a design for my new tatt now. Thanks for the tip Bookworm. I fixed that up and did a little bit more editing while I was at it. Ah, the hazards of writing too quickly. Speaking of which if anybody thinks the quality of my writing is diminishing at any point, don't hesitate to let me know. If I do have to slow down and think about things more I will certainly do so.
Oh yes, and Happy belated Birthday! I'm glad you had a good time. Later!