Physical Shame

Title: Two's A Crowd
Author: Jinhito
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my deluded yaoi-filled mind.
Summary: Now this was something he wasn't expecting... he certainly felt he didn't belong right then. Can you say awkward?
Author’s Note: Written for Nyusama because I loves her! This is also now a secondary side project to keep me from completely angsting over OMN... Beta-ing done by Sel! Enjoy. :D


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I wish I’d paid more attention when Iruka-sensei was lecturing me on proper care. Sasuke definitely won’t be talking about it anytime soon... Sai hasn’t come back yet either...

I miss him...

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"Naruto."

It came from the dining room area and the fox-faced blonde dropped the pencil he’d been using and padded over. Sasuke didn’t usually call for him; unless he was in dire need of assistance... he quickened his pace.

"Ah? What do you need now?"

That sounded bad, Naruto knew it. Sasuke hated asking for help in the first place, this was just rubbing salt in the wound. He grimaced; wishing he could take it back suddenly, stop the hurt before it could settle in with the steady aching throb of Sasuke’s left shoulder.

But the other said nothing, overlooked it in a way that genius can compensate for stupid. He motioned with his head, come closer.

Sasuke was seated comfortably at the table, a newspaper flat and pressed in front of him. It was nicely creased in the center, an act that took two hands to accomplish successfully.

Sai must have been the last person to touch it.

That was yesterday.

"Naruto."

Sasuke eyed the other warily from across the table since he had stopped somewhere between the door and himself. Not quite close enough to help him in his current predicament. But he would ask no more, calling out had been the hardest step, admitting that thin sheets of newsprint and little else had actually managed to defeat him.

It took a moment before Naruto got the gist of just what he should have been doing all along. Licking a thumb with the rough tip of his tongue, he grabbed it from its humble spot, crinkling the first couple pages by accident.

Upon opening it he could see little dog-ears here and there from where Sai had marked his favorite places. It was a nasty habit, something contingent with Sai. Something Naruto often felt the need to bitch at him for, for ruining his personal collection of good books. Not that he had many at his disposal but it was the principle of the thing.

Having completely lost himself in the memory momentarily, he snapped back into reality before he was too far-gone to realize it. Looking at Sasuke he could only see the patient exterior with a sort of expectation written on the calm features there.

Now that was new.

But he wasn’t going to complain. Patience was something you could easily be taught after all, especially when you had been the apprentice understudy of a legendary sannin, just bidding your time until you gained enough power to overthrow him...

Naurto flipped open to the first two inside pages having assumed the other was done with the outside by his own aid. He made sure to ruffle them in such a way that his charge could see.

It wasn’t easy at first because he didn’t know whether he should keep holding them or settle it back down for Sasuke to do as he pleased on his own pride’s terms. Instead of fumbling and jerking around the awkwardness of the situation even more, he opted to wait.

Heck, if Sasuke could be taught then maybe there was hope for him yet.

As expected the darker-haired boy read slowly, eyes traveling lazily from line to line. Each word taking its time to get off the conveyor belt of his vision and into the localization of cohesion somewhere in his mind. Sasuke kept quite for the most part, expression hardly changing as he jumped from the weather into politics.

Naruto wasn’t sure how much longer he’d have to stand there and was about to say something about it when Sasuke beat him to it.

"I really hate that," he said after a moment of paused thinking.

"Huh?"

Naruto was lost.
Hate what?
Why?

Refusing to admit any more, Sasuke leaned forward to correct a dog-eared corner on the right page with his index finger and thumb working together to smooth it back into some sort of former glory.

Naruto wanted to laugh but settled for smiling softly instead. So it wasn’t just him being a nagging nancy after all. Sai was rather compulsive now that he thought about it...

"You know, I keep telllin’ him that," him was not mentioned but implied, "and he does it anyway. I swear it’s just to piss me off... Actually, come to think of it, what he did last month with my magazines was even worse. I can’t believe he-"


Naruto got cut off mid-sentence by a pair of desperate lips claiming his. Sasuke’s hand had suddenly rushed forward to fetch him by the collar of his shirt and yank him closer.

The shock set in quickly, numbing his mumbling lips in mere seconds and causing Sasuke to kiss back even harder. He pulled away a moment later, breath ragged and passion-filled. The tense hold wouldn’t ease up any. Sasuke’s actions promised so much more, but only if...

"Stop talking about him.


He left you...


He’s not the one you really want..."

Naruto tore the paper in his trembling hands; grip instinctively tighter in his sudden confusion - body numb when his brain stopped sending the right signals.

"Naruto, I-"

Sasuke had no idea where he was going with this, why he’d started it, what he was doing... But he was damn near positive that he was not going to lose his last precious person to someone else when he was absolutely sure he could have done something to stop it.

He leaned forward again; body in need of some sort of comforting action that only Naruto could give him. He wanted more, wouldn’t take no for answer and he was going to take it by force if need be.

There was an immediate awakening and Naruto couldn’t stop his next action but he knew he’d regret soon after.

"No!"

He pushed back against the person assaulting him, one hand firm on a bicep the other free-swatting and only hitting the empty left socket of the robe Sasuke was wearing.

He had just done the worst possible thing he could do in a situation as bad as this.

Fuck...

Sasuke blinked dumbly before the full weight of honesty hit him head on at over a hundred miles per hour. He was maimed, he was cripple, and he was an invalid missing an entire arm. His eyes widened and the dull coloring of the red Sharingen flared up in his charcoal irises.

His muscles tensed under the skin but nothing came of it. He wouldn’t have the power necessary to do much anyway being as weak as he was now. This was pointless... he needed to say something, do something besides let his anger and self-hatred rise up again.

"Sasuke, I’m sorry... I’m so sorry... I didn’t-"

"What the hell is this?"

Both directed their attention to the now overwhelmed doorway.

Sai was standing rigid with his right hand braced tightly on the wooden frame. His face betrayed no emotion but the door was suffering the worst, splinters of wood chipping off under his gloved fingertips. In his free hand he held a bouquet of flowers, also being crushed at the stem by his raging jealousy.

But he’d said it so calmly too... more cool and collected than his interior must have been screaming.

"Sai..."

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Hope you enjoyed it. :3 I'm working on OMN honestly... it's just taking longer than expected. Also, sorry that this was so short, the third installment is killing me and slowing progress on everything else. D: I'm a lazy kid and I know it.