Art and Artifice

Art and Artifice
chapter 18

Uchiha Sasuke sat in his ridiculously expensive car giving himself a mental pep talk. His right leg had been bouncing nervously for the last five minutes and a folded piece of paper in his hand had been tapping against the steering wheel for just as long. What he was about to do had seemed like a fabulous idea all up until he had pulled up here. The doubts had set in the moment the engine had shut down. Therein lay the problem with having a 'car' as a confidence booster. You had to step out and leave it behind at some point. Perhaps he could find himself a nice, portable lucky charm. Nervousness, however, was not really a condition that Sasuke was overly familiar with. Deciding eventually that it didn't look good on him, he pulled himself up out of the car, fed the meter and began walking determinedly toward the entrance to Shuriken Studios.

He wiped his sweaty palm on his pants with a grimace before taking the door handle and sucking in a deep, fortifying breath. This 'should' go well, he told himself. Kyuubi was obviously the romantic type. He would love this kind of thing. Nodding firmly to himself he opened the door and walked in. When the familiar jingle died down he noticed that he could hear some music that he recognized being played quietly. Stevie Ray Vaughan, the name came to him within a few seconds. The blond boy behind the counter was moving a little to the beat as he worked away. The music was coming from his headphones. Kyuubi liked the blues. Sasuke smiled a little at that. While it reminded him of his brother, the music actually made him feel more comfortable, the familiarity was soothing. He cleared his throat but the blond simply continued nodding along with the beat. Sasuke smirked and reaching out a hand, plucked one side of the headphones from the blond's ear and loudly cleared his throat again. Naruto's head jerked up in surprise.

"Now I see why you're not usually wearing these on the job," the Uchiha quipped.

"Oh... it's you again," said Naruto in a bored tone. "What are.." Sasuke held up a hand in his face to forestall the usual tirade.

"I just have something I want to give you."

"Is it alive?" the blond asked with a wary look. Sasuke chuckled and pulled a bunch of daisies and a folded piece of paper from behind his back. Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Daisies?"

"Yeah.. You just didn't seem much like a roses kind of guy," replied Sasuke as he handed over the flowers. Naruto was amazed that he had put any thought into it at all and hadn't just automatically gone for the most expensive thing in the store. Perhaps he had a bit of sense after all.

"What's this?" he asked, separating the paper from the flowers.

"That's for you too." Sasuke kept his face as straight as possible while the blond unfolded the paper.

"Well this should be interesting," Naruto thought to himself. "Huh, poetry?" As he read through the words on the page written in free verse, his eye's began to grow wider.

"Sasuke, did you write this?" The Uchiha nodded somewhat stiffly. He was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. The blond was looking at him with a completely astonished expression. "Wow, that's...I mean this is really, 'really' good! I can't believe it. You are 'so' talented!"

"What?" Sasuke's head shot up, his own eye's widening and his mouth dropping open.

"I said you're really talented. This is amazing! Have you written more? You must do a lot of writing."

"You think I'm 'talented'?" Finally noticing his shocked expression, Naruto couldn't help but smile at him.

"Of course! 'I' couldn't possibly do something like this to save my life." The stunned Uchiha cleared his throat and tried to quickly reign in his emotions.

"Well I'm.. glad you like it." The smile promptly dropped off the blonds face as he searched for a good way to say this. With a sigh he just plunged in.

"I do... but I'm afraid I can't accept it..."

"What? Why not?" Sasuke asked in confusion. Naruto bit his lip awkwardly.

"Look, I already have a boyfriend." A scowl came unbidden to the Uchiha's face.

"Who? Who is he?" he demanded. Neither of them payed any attention to the jingle of the door.

"I can't tell you..."

"Bullshit! You could tell me who it is if there really 'was' someone else. You're just lying to me aren't you?!" Naruto could feel his own anger rising. He did not appreciate being put on the spot and then accused like this.

"I do 'not' lie! Not that it matters. Even if I didn't have a boyfriend, I still wouldn't go out with you. There's just 'no way' I could ever manage to wrap my brain around that!" Sasuke's response was interrupted by the sound of snickering and both boys looked toward the door to find Kiba and Sakura standing there. Realizing they'd been discovered Kiba burst into laughter and after continuing to stand stock-still with a dumbfounded look on her face for a moment, Sakura followed with a helpless giggle. Sasuke's face hardened and he stormed past them and out the door, not sparing a last glance for either them or Naruto.

"Oh man that was awesome! Way to give 'im hell!" Kiba cheered.

"Kiba, this isn't really a good time,"said Naruto. Kiba quickly sobered up a bit.

"Oh yeah, uh, sure man. I get ya. We'll just come back another time ok?" The blond nodded and Kiba ushered Sakura out the door. The pink haired girl called out a bewildered goodbye and Naruto put on a weak smile and waved to her. When they had left the shop. He groaned quietly and let his head drop onto the counter top, narrowly missing the flowers that still rested there.

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Sasuke stalked angrily through the halls of Shinobi High on his way to the washroom. He had been in the absolute foulest of moods since his encounter, or 'total shutdown' by Kyuubi a full three days before. Most people had been wisely staying out of his way during this time and he had yet to find a sufficient release for his extreme frustration and anger. He couldn't believe that he had been so thoroughly snubbed. Every last second of the day that his mind was not entirely occupied with something else, like school work, he found himself dwelling once more on what had happened. That blasted boy obviously just didn't get it. Sasuke had actually brought him flowers and even written him poetry! Did he think that Uchiha Sasuke did things like that for just anyone?! After going to the effort of actually..'wooing' someone for the first time ever, he had actually been shot down, humiliatingly, in front of laughing spectators no less! Sasuke wanted to scream bloody murder... and/or 'commit' bloody murder.

It was so far beyond unfair. For one amazing moment he'd thought it had actually worked. Kyuubi had praised him and that gorgeous smile had finally been directed at him. The blond had even called him talented! For all the people that kissed his ass on a daily basis, nobody had ever said those words to him sincerely. But then he had denied him, gave him the old I-have-a-boyfriend line. What a crock of shit! Actually Sasuke didn't know which he would hate more; that Kyuubi would lie to get out of dating him or that Kyuubi might really 'have' a boyfriend. One was humiliating but the other meant that somebody else was touching his Kyuubi. The thought had Sasuke snarling at the empty hall around him. Whipping around the next corner, he felt something thump harshly against him and focusing properly in front of himself now, he saw a familiar hooded figure staggering back.

Naruto was just making his way back to his class after a quick trip to the washroom when someone came careening around the corner. He slammed into the other body before he could stop himself and almost fell back on his ass. Gripping the wall beside him for support, he gave his head a shake and looked up, only to almost choke on his own tongue at the sight of Uchiha Sasuke. Oh crap! Knowing what a horrible mood the boy would be in, he had been successfully avoiding him for days. Of course it just figured that he would finally run into him, 'literally', when there were no possible witnesses around.

As Sasuke glared at the hooded boy, one thing rose up above all the rest of the turmoil in his mind. His brother's voice, clear as day in his memory, taunting him about how he had what he wanted and Sasuke didn't. The look that came into his eyes frightened the hell out of Naruto and he froze like a dear in the headlights as Sasuke's hands reached out for him. Grabbing the smaller boy by the front of his hoody, Sasuke dragged him through the door on the right, into the locker room. Naruto stumbled at the sudden lurch of motion and scrambled to stay upright, the worn soles of his sneakers slipping on the tiled floor. He clawed at the hands that had him in a choking hold that kept tightening as he struggled and pulled. Sasuke dragged him past the benches and lockers into the shower area beyond and threw the boy with the force of all his anger at the unforgiving wall. Naruto's head crashed into the tile and he slid to his knees on the floor, coughing and gasping for breath. Suddenly his breath was taken from him again by the shock of freezing cold water that soaked through to the skin instantly. He tried to crawl out from under the spray but was kicked back violently, his knees slipping out from under him. Sasuke stared down at the shivering mass of soaking wet boy huddled on the cold tile before him. Part of him wanted to carry on, maybe until there was nothing left, but at the same time he felt sick to his stomach. He forced himself to just turn around and walk away.

A few moments later Naruto reached a hand up and turned off the water. He pulled himself up just enough to sit slumped against the wall and wondered vaguely what the hell he was going to do now. He couldn't go back to class like this and he didn't relish the idea of walking home in his sopping clothes either. Plus his head hurt like hell! Perhaps he could call Haku in a few minutes when class let out and see if he had any bright ideas. That was, if his phone still worked. The blond pulled his cell out and flipped it open. Thankfully it had been in a pocket on his left side which had managed to stay somewhat dryer.It appeared to be in working order. Flipping it shut again he settled in to wait, letting his hands drop into his lap while his head fell back against the wall. For the next few minutes he concentrated his energy on calming his shivers while he reflected on how much longer the youngest Uchiha might be planning to stay angry.


A/N; Wooooh! Poor Sasuke...Poor Naruto! Oh the horror! hehehe
Sadistickiss, I'm glad you like it so much! I don't actually bother to alert my readers of a new chapter because I update every day anyway. Plus we're kinda starting to come up on the end now. Oh no! My baby's growing up!(sniffle)XD Later!