Role Play

A/N: I got a couple of requests to do a sequel to the story. I think a ‘sequel’ would be overdoing it, but the requests had me thinking up new ideas as to how I could continue the story. So I think I will make it a multi-chapter. Here’s the deal: I plan to write each potential chapter as an ending for the whole story in itself. Simply put- any chapter can and may serve as the conclusion. That way, when I finally get the hint that you are no longer interested or I run of of ideas, I can just stop without worrying about abandoning an incomplete story.
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Sasuke had been laying low for the past couple of weeks. He hadn’t seen or spoken to Naruto the entire time and now he had serious withdrawal symptoms. He hadn’t been up to facing Naruto since the ‘incident’. The idea of Naruto teasing until Sasuke confessed his feelings- all leading to an inevitable rejection- seemed far too daunting to Sasuke. But two weeks without Naruto was like trying to hold your breath for too long. Eventually, you just had to breathe.

Muttering to himself, he stalked over to his closet and flung it open. Rows of black clothes stared back at him. According to Naruto, it looked as if death had thrown up in Sasuke’s closet. The only other colours he could tolerate were blue and white. Red only made an appearance as a part of his family crest. It amazed everyone who knew him, how he could get so much variety out of one boring colour.

He got dressed and headed out to the Paradox. The Paradox was Sasuke’s black Jaguar, and had been dubbed by Naruto. According to him, the car was a contradiction in itself. The car, all sleek black lines, was built to epitomise speed and stealth. Yet all it seemed to do was scream ‘look at me!’

Sasuke smiled a little as he pulled out of his garage and headed off to the hospital. Naruto was supposed to get be getting off his shift soon, and Sasuke figured now was as good a time as any to face the music.

Naruto’s station was on the second floor. Sasuke was not out of the elevator two minutes before he heard:

“SASUKE-KUUUN!” Sasuke winced slightly- Sakura.

He waited patiently as the pink-haired woman made a beeline for him. Sakura was one of the precious few people Sasuke trusted and considered a friend. She was probably the closest one after Naruto.

She had had an insane crush on him all through high school. A crush which ended almost as abruptly as it started soon after they entered college. They friendship had solidified and matured- but she was never above torturing him with weird fan-girl mannerisms. Just like Naruto, she was an attending at the hospital and also helped him run the clinic. Fate had conspired to keep them all together apparently.

Sakura’s outburst had alerted the other women on the floor to Sasuke’s presence. They all proceeded to strike the sexiest, most alluring poses they could manage. It was always a flat-out competition to see who could get him (or a least bed him) first. Sasuke couldn’t suppress a sigh at their idiocy. A second later, Sakura looped an arm through his and started walking with him towards Naruto’s station.

“You know- if all it took was a blonde wig and an orange outfit to get you going, I could have done that in high school.” Sasuke stifled a groan as Sakura’s wicked smile flashed.

“He told you?” Sasuke struggled to keep his voice even.

“Of course he did, it took a while to get it since he was laughing so hard…” Sasuke’s head dropped forward. “…but I eventually picked it up.”

Sakura was also the only person who knew how he felt about Naruto. He hadn’t told her- she had figured it out. It was probably that fact which had precipitated the end of her crush. Of that Sasuke wasn’t sure. He had finally confessed so he could swear her to secrecy, and made her promise not to interfere.

“Where is he? Isn’t he supposed to be getting ready to leave now” He’d been here almost ten minutes and hadn’t spotted a hint of blond anywhere. Well, natural blond anyway.

“He’s down in the E.R. covering for Kabuto.”

“What does he think about…you know…what happened?” Sakura was apparently mulling over the question as a voice behind him almost had him crawling out his skin.

“I should have figured you were up here.” Naruto was regarding his with his ‘fox’ look.

The man had had that look for as long as Sasuke had known him. His eyes were narrowed down so closely, it looked as if they were closed. Sasuke could swear Naruto’s nose and whisker marks were twitching. It was one of the most fascinating things Sasuke had ever seen in his life.

Sakura stifled a laugh at Sasuke’s startled reaction to Naruto’s voice and the range of emotions that flashed across his face in the unguarded moment. To his credit, Sasuke recovered almost instantly before he had turned to face Naruto.

“What did you mean, you should have figured?” Sasuke cooled his voice so much; you could have chilled juice with it.

“Every woman in a ten-mile radius is suddenly en vogue…obviously it’s your fault.”

Sasuke looked around; in truth all the women were still either in some serious fashion poses or doing their best runway-model moves. Of course, since Naruto was now on the floor, they had doubled their efforts. There was a competition raging for him too: Naruto and Sasuke were like the irresistible fire and ice duo to them.

Naruto regarded Sasuke again. “Well I’m glad to see you’re alive. I was getting worried for a moment there. You’ve been scarcer than an AB negative blood type.”

Sakura giggled at that; mentally Sasuke just shrugged. Sakura left to go check on a patient, mouthing ‘talk to him’ and casting a wink at Sasuke as she departed.

Sasuke followed Naruto into the TV room as the blond headed to the coffee dispenser.

“I thought you were getting off soon… I came to pick you up, since I had some free time.” Naruto’s green junk heap, ‘Gama-chan’, was in the shop.

Naruto rolled his eyes incredulously at that. Sasuke’s whole life was nothing but free time. He just sat at home and collected money, or went out and collected money. Sasuke and his brother were trust fund babies- with no need to do a day’s work in their lives. Wanting independence from their father though, they had both invested their money wisely into high paying ventures.

Itachi had funded his best friend’s idea of a water-amusement park. There were now parks scattered through Japan and Europe. Sasuke had taken a different route and gotten into the music industry. He had executed a ruthless takeover of one of the most successful recording companies in existence, fresh out of college. After ousting the founder and CEO, ‘Otogakure records’ was firmly in Sasuke’s control. His subordinates ran everything- their incredible fear of him, prevented anyone from daring to screw him over.

“I’m hanging on for Kabuto. He’s got the E.R. now, and he’s apparently having some sort of crisis at the research lab. Luckily, it’s slow today…it’s practically empty down there.”

Sasuke was trying not to fidget nervously as he sank into one of the sofa chairs. Naruto was acting normally- too normally. The multiple scenarios he had run in his head the past few weeks did not include this. Obviously he would have to get the ball rolling.

“So about what happened…” Sasuke’s heart clenched in dread as he saw Naruto frown.

“She was fine the last I heard, but she skipped out on all but the first of the counselling sessions scheduled for her. You know the type: too much time and money on their hands.”

Sasuke blinked, confused for moment. What on earth was Naruto talking…OH, the girl! Sasuke mentally shrugged again- he didn’t really care about that.

“I see- that’s too bad. So you said we should talk?” Sasuke offered helpfully. Now it was Naruto’s turn to blink. It slowly dawned on him and a feral smile spread. Sasuke could feel sweat prickling at the back of his neck.

“Oh yeah…I had totally forgotten about that!” A vein twitched in Sasuke’s forehead. The idiot forgot? How could he have forgotten when all Sasuke did was agonize over it for the past two weeks? The twitch threatened to explode as Naruto continued.

“Yeah, I had a good laugh about it. You must have been drunk off your ass to think of a stunt like that! You’re lucky you’ve been MIA; I was going to roast you.” Naruto giggled a bit and then yawned. “Che, I’m hungry…let’s get some food when Kabuto finally drags his butt in here!”

Sasuke couldn’t believe this! Just like that, it’s over? No accusations, no demands of explanation, no homophobe paranoia, no anything? You could have driven a Mack truck through all the holes in that explanation. But Naruto just accepted that Sasuke must have been drunk and mischievous. But then Naruto gave him a serious look that had Sasuke bracing himself again.

“Oi, you aren’t overdoing it when you go out, are you? You do take precautions right? You use protection and you don’t take anything at any of these parties you go to…”

Sasuke was pissed at Naruto; the idiot was so dense at times. He zoned out as he heard Naruto launch into his safety lecture that Sasuke could now recite from memory. If he were honest with himself, he had kind of been hoping that Naruto would have called him out on the incident, and forced him to admit what was really going on. He had fanaticised that Naruto had gotten a confession out of him, and instead of the feared backlash, the blond would have ended up reciprocating instead.

Then after they had clarified their feelings and all that, they would sneak undetected into one of those infamous, hospital supply closets. Sasuke had imagined that they would have then defeated the purpose of all that covertness, by having the noisiest and best sex imaginable.

Sasuke surfaced from the gutter to see a pair of incredible blue eyes hovering in front of him. Upon further inspection, he realized that said eyes were installed in Naruto’s face and the blond was calling to him anxiously.

“Oi bastard, can you hear me? What is the matter with you?” Naruto relaxed a little when Sasuke blinked.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, that was about all he could do. Because of Naruto’s unanticipated proximity, Sasuke’s traitorous brain had opted to completely shut down. Warm liquid dripped down unto his lip.

“SASUKE, YOUR NOSE IS BLEEDING!” Sasuke immediately recognized the arrival of Dr. Naruto as the blond for straightened ready to bark orders to the nearest nurse. Sasuke grabbed Naruto’s arm quickly.

“Shut up! I’m fine you moron…”

“You’re not fine. You were unresponsive and now you’re bleeding! Che, why am I arguing with you about this?” Sasuke jumped to his feet and clamped a hand over the struggling Naruto’s mouth.

“I was (oof) unresponsive (ow) because you were boring me (will you stop!). And my nose was bleeding (quit it, already!) because I was having perverted thoughts.” They were mixed up on the floor by the time Sasuke could complete a sentence.

Naruto stopped struggling and glared at Sasuke who was now on the blond’s back till clamping a hand over his mouth.

A nurse walked in to see Naruto face down on the floor with Sasuke stretched out on top of him, apparently trying to stifle him. Both men looked up at the sound of her entry. She looked confused and concerned.

“Uzumaki-sama? Um, should I get help or leave you two alone or…?” Sasuke quickly removed him hand from Naruto’s mouth.

“It’s okay Nana, Uchiha-san is just…will you get off me?!” Sasuke quickly scrambled off Naruto’s back, having gotten completely comfortable in their awkward position. Naruto got up and started brushing himself off. “Ahem, Uchiha-san is just afraid of needles.”

The nurse smiled sympathetically at Sasuke, got some coffee and left. Naruto then glared at Sasuke some more.

“Well, I’m sorry that my concern for your wellbeing bores you so much. I didn’t mean to interrupt you and whatever airhead you were dreaming about!”

Sasuke sighed; great, now he’d hurt Naruto’s feelings. Sasuke opened his mouth to tell the man not to be stupid and offer to treat him to ramen. He didn’t get a word out because Naruto’s beeper had chosen that moment to go off and a second later Naruto was no longer in view.
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Naruto rushed into the ER, one of his interns appearing immediately beside him.
“Naruto-sensei, they just brought in a blunt force trauma. The patient hit her head on a tree limb while rollerblading.”

Naruto looked at the intern with a raised eyebrow. While head traumas could be serious injuries, it was pretty straightforward protocol for treatment.

“Then you paged me because…?” The intern blushed, but didn’t get a chance to explain as Naruto was already in front of the patient.

Naruto understood immediately- the patient was a Hyuuga. Lavender, pupil-less eyes looked about in embarrassment as she tried to wiggle off the gurney. An agitated young man with messy brown hair hovered about anxiously as the EMS team kept her in place.

“I’m fine really. It’s just a bump, there’s no need to go through all this trouble.”

The standard preliminary tests couldn’t be done with Hyuugas. No pupils mean that no reactivity or comparison tests; rendering the pen flashlight Naruto had whipped out earlier- useless. Also, the hospital that dared allow a lowly intern to treat a Hyuuga would catch hell from Hyuuga Hiashi, the head of the clan.

Naruto had only ever seen a Hyuuga in his medical books. They were the textbook example of how dominant genetic inheritance could confer selective advantages in a population. Their eyesight and the span of their vision field were far superior to anything believed humanly possible.

Naruto stopped in front of the fidgeting girl and got her attention by tilting her head up in order to properly see her eyes and the bruising. He smiled at her as her protests died and she was left gaping at him.

Hinata had thought doctors this gorgeous only existed in those hospital dramas or soap operas. She nearly winded up in a puddle on the floor when he smiled at her. Her skin was heating up starting from her chin which was still being held up by his fingers. In a moment, she was so red the bruise almost disappeared.

“Hinata-sama…” Naruto consulted her chart briefly, got her name, and turned back to the flustered girl. “Follow my hand with your eyes… I heard you had a bit of an accident”

“It was my fault!” This outburst was courtesy of the anxious young man, who was still hovering about and getting in the way. “I let go of her hand too early. She got out of control and smacked right into a tree branch. She was out cold!”

“KIBA-KUN!!” Naruto had thought the girl couldn’t possibly blush any deeper. He was wrong. These Hyuugas were just one medical marvel after another.

“Tsk, that’s nothing. I once skateboarded off my friend’s roof, to feel what it would be like to fly. I think I was unconscious before I hit the ground. Then after I recovered, my friend knocked me out again. I think he did more damage than that nosedive!” Naruto grinned as he tried to distract the girl from his brief physical examination.

Sasuke, who had wandered down to the E.R. and was then standing some distance away, snorted. He hated that memory; he had never been so scared in his life. After he had been sure Naruto was back to 100 percent, he had beaten the crap out of him.

“Did you…?” The girl asked hesitantly, focusing on Naruto’s neck since that didn’t seem to make her blush that hard.

“Did I what?”

“Fly…did it feel like you were flying?”

“For about six glorious seconds…yeah, it did.” Hinata smiled at his positive response.

“Okay, you seem to be in one piece. Kori, take Hinata-sama to get a CT-scan and then we’ll see if we can send her home.” Hinata looked up abruptly at Naruto’s words and started sputtering again.

“No really, I’m fine. I don’t want to put anyone out!” Naruto gave her a look that quieted her down.

“You, mostly likely, have a concussion and we need to make sure there’s no damage. Besides, between you and me, I like putting out.”

Everyone in earshot snickered. Well everyone except Hinata- who blushed crimson; and Kiba and Sasuke- who both frowned.

Kabuto finally showed up when Hinata had left for her tests. Naruto changed quickly and headed out with Sasuke.

“She crazy cute isn’t she. I can’t believe she’s actually the Hyuuga heiress. It would be less intimidating if she was just a cousin of Hiashi or something.” Naruto mused as he slid into the passenger seat of the Paradox.

“Oi was all that okay? I thought you weren’t supposed to flirt yourself with patients. Authority figure, position of power et cetera et cetera.”

Naruto lifted a brow as he tried to make sense of Sasuke’s terse mini-tirade.

“That’s for therapists you moron!”

“Hnn…” Sasuke huffed slightly as he switched in the ignition and the Jaguar purred to life.

“Heh, Hyuuga Hiashi’s daughter. Gama-chan definitely wouldn’t do. I should probably borrow the Paradox for the date.”

“Date? What date?” Sasuke hit the brakes and turned to stare at Naruto. The blond blinked a bit and then smiled sheepishly.

“I didn’t know she was the Hyuuga heiress or maybe I wouldn’t. I don’t know what came over me; but I just had to ask her out.”

As Naruto smiled and mused, Sasuke turned and resumed calmly pulling out of the hospital’s parking lot.

Inside, he felt like bawling.


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A/N: A bit longer than most I usually do, but these are special circumstances. I had to get a lot in, in case it’s the last chap. Three guesses what one of my favourite pairings is besides NaruSasu/SasuNaru. Yeah, I couldn’t resist a little NaruHina. In regards to the story: I have never seen anyone so horny, their nose bleeds. That is an idiosyncrasy of anime, but I couldn’t resist using it. I always crack up when it happens, especially to Jiraiya. So is there anything or anyone you might want to see make an appearance? I can’t promise I will fulfil the requests, though!
I look forward to hearing what you thought; and I hoped you enjoyed the post!