Art and Artifice

Art and Artifice
chapter 16

It was growing late on a Friday evening and Itachi had just driven in from Konoha. He hadn't even stopped off at his parents yet. Itachi approached a rundown building with a light spring in his step, taking little notice of all the cracks and the grime. A couple of rather sleazy looking girls were just walking out the door when he reached it so he slipped through the open passage and made his way up the stairs and down the hall to a certain door with chipped green paint. At his knock the door was opened by a blond haired boy with a brilliant smile and Itachi was pulled into a warm hug.

"Hey! I missed you." This statement was responded to with an answering hug and silent smile which the blond correctly interpreted as an 'I missed you too'. Itachi was a bit tired to do anything too strenuous and Naruto agreed that it had been a full and trying day so they decided to keep things simple and just go for a walk. They wandered along the street hand in hand on the way to the park. When they came to a small, conveniently located cafe, they made a quick detour inside for some hot chocolate before continuing on to the park. Naruto leaned into his boyfriend and felt a strong arm slide around his shoulders as the two strolled lazily around the graveled paths in the fading light. Eventually, one of the park benches came to be occupied by a pair of young men, one warm and golden the other cool and dark.

Naruto cuddled into Itachi's arms, still clutching his empty coffee cup and looked up at the sky. Vaguely he wished that he could see all the stars.

"I love this time... When the summer is just barely beginning and the days are getting so long that the sun doesn't really make it all the way down until sometime around nine o'clock. There's something special about twilight in the summer. I think it's my favorite time to be outside. The whole world just feels different somehow you know?"

"Hmm, that's true," Itachi mused. "Perhaps it's some residual animal instinct. You're naturally more alert outdoors when night is falling."

"Yes, I think that's it exactly," agreed Naruto. "It's like the senses become sharper. You can hear every tiny little sound and the smells on the air are so clear." He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath right then, and Itachi chuckled at him. An elegant hand lifted and began to stroke comfortably through soft, golden hair as the two fell silent for a few minutes more.

"Naruto chan?" Itachi's voice gently drew the blond out of his daydreaming. "You said earlier that you'd had a trying day. Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Oh." Naruto shook himself to full attention. "That's right. I gave your brother a tattoo today. He has been getting bolder but I never thought he'd do something quite so dumb. That's what I get for underestimating him huh?" he joked sarcastically.

"He actually got a tattoo?" Itachi himself was mildly surprised.

"Oh yeah, said something lame about getting my hands on him. He was a complete idiot about it the whole way through. He really seemed to have no clue what a bad idea it could be to annoy the guy who's taking a needle to you." Itachi was frowning over the blond's head.

"It seems he's really stepping it up a notch... Naruto, why don't you just tell him?"

"Eh?" Naruto turned in Itachi's arms to look up at his face.

"You could just tell him about your 'secret identity' so that I can tell him to back off of my boyfriend." Naruto looked down, frowning into his lap as he chewed on his lip in contemplation.

"I just don't think I want to deal with that right now. It won't be much longer anyway no matter what right?" Itachi's frown deepened.

"Are you sure?" he asked. The blond head nodded silently still facing down. Itachi sighed. "Well I won't try to force you of course, but I really don't think things could actually get any more convoluted than they are. I'm not sure what you're so afraid of exactly."

"Please, just wait it out for me? There's no need for us to get into any unnecessary confrontations. I'll be fine, really." Itachi couldn't help giving in to those big pleading eyes. Rather than answer directly he simply changed the subject.

"So what tattoo did he get?" he asked casually. Naruto grinned.

"A red Chinese dragon on his shoulder."

"Oh, so he's joined the club then." Itachi shook his head. "I wonder if they have their own internet group." Naruto giggled and tried to come up with an appropriate name for such a group. Itachi though, was only half listening. He was beginning to feel slightly uneasy. He really couldn't understand why the blond wouldn't give up his cover. Did he not really 'want' Sasuke to stop bothering him? It was absurd of course but maybe, just maybe..did he have a little secret desire for his brother? But it was completely ridiculous to think such a thing. It was much more likely that the blond was simply reluctant to relinquish the security blanket of anonymity that he'd grown so used to, even if it 'would' be more practical. Right?

Later after having escorted Naruto back to his apartment, Itachi finally made his way over to his parent's house. Sasuke pulled into the driveway directly after him and the two met on the walk. Sasuke sneered at his brother.

"Were you out with your little pet freak again?" Itachi was getting seriously sick of these petty verbal attacks.

"At least I can get what I want. I hear 'you've' been having some troubles." The smug look instantly dropped from his little brother's face.

"Who the hell told you that? Was it the dobe? He doesn't know shit! I can 'always' get what I want, and what I want 'far' exceeds anything you've ever had. I 'will' have it, soon." The fuming Sasuke strutted past his brother, into the house and promptly slammed the door in Itachi's face. Itachi remained standing there outside for a moment, eyebrows raised.

"Well now, 'that' hit a nerve," he thought to himself. His eyebrows then slowly lowered back down into a frown as he found himself wondering whether this might mean that he had just goaded Sasuke into redoubling his efforts. That slight, nagging little uneasy feeling was returning. He shook it off quickly though and stepped up to open the door. Finding it locked, he heaved a put-upon sigh and fished his keys out of his pocket.

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Sasuke stomped up the wide staircase, down the hall and into his room. He shoved the door hard behind him but his robe hanging on the back billowed out, slowing the momentum so that it culminated in a quiet click. The irritated Uchiha re-opened the door yanking the robe off it's hook and slammed it once more, this time with a satisfying bang. After pacing noisily around the room for a few minutes, he finally stopped to pull a journal from his bookcase and slapped it down on the desk, slumping down into his chair and settling in to write. He continued to sit there for nearly two hours, his hand, which had flown furiously across the page in the beginning, slowing down as he went on. By the time he laid his pen down and straightened, lifting his arms to stretch out cramped muscles, he had calmed down completely.

Leaning back in the chair he let his mind wander for awhile. A picture of his coveted Kyuubi grew in his mind's eye. The insinuation that he couldn't have him, coming from his brother of all people, really ticked him off to no end. It just rankled all the more for the fact that he really 'was' having trouble. Even after all this time the blond boy hadn't given him an inch. He knew it wasn't that he was straight either because if that was the case he would have simply explained it right off the bat. No, Kyuubi obviously didn't have a problem with his gender. What could it be? Most people in Sasuke's situation would have just cut their losses and found someone else. He was well aware of this, but Sasuke had already had lots..and lots of someone elses. There was something about Kyuubi. The boy had gotten under his skin like nobody else. If a friend had asked him why he was so determined to have this one person, he would have just stated that he was gorgeous and that was that. Or perhaps he might have claimed that he was in it for the challenge. The truth was that he really couldn't define it as easily as all that. He honestly liked everything about Kyuubi. He was talented, which was something that always fascinated Sasuke. Words couldn't convey his disappointment when he had found that he couldn't do the amazing things Itachi could. Kyuubi was also nothing if not sincere he would never give himself to just anyone and he would never give less than his all. Somehow the youngest Uchiha just 'knew' that if he could win this boy over he would be happy. It was as simple and as complicated as that. The smiles the blond gave out so freely to other people were like magic. Sasuke wanted to be the one receiving such smiles that could make one feel warm and cared for and 'special'. He wanted that. He wanted Kyuubi, but he was running out of ideas.

As he sat in contemplation his hand had moved of it's own accord to take up the pen once more and he was idly scratching out a description of that smile that was the focus of his thoughts. Painstakingly pulling himself back to the world outside of his head, he noticed what he was doing and picked up the journal to read over what he'd written. With a shrug, the journal was clapped shut and Sasuke stood to replace it on the bookcase. As he slid the leather bound book back into place he spared a glance to the long line of similar books that took up the entire shelf. Suddenly his movement paused. A perfect alabaster brow wrinkled in thought and then a small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. Quickly he pulled the book back off the shelf and sat himself back down at the desk, the pen flew rapidly across the page once more, halting occasionally to scratch something out or just to wait, poised above the paper for it's owner to finish a thought. Uchiha Sasuke didn't get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning but when he did, it was with an odd sense of contentment.



A/N; Ok, I know that the last chapter was basically a montage that barreled through a few weeks of dick-all and not much happened in this chap either but I promise things will pick up. It's all in the plan baby. Later!