Orange Crush

I want to thank everyone who reviewed the first chapter of ‘Orange Crush’, I knew that it would take a little time between each chapter because each chapter is so long, but its for a good reason since I want to give a clear idea of what is happening by having a chapter this length if not longer. There is some introductions in this chapter as well as more twists than a pretzel… more on that later. Thanks to Maliciously Creative, My Evil Twin, for the editing help.

If you don't review Itachi will suck the life force out of you.

Itachi, "Grrrr..."

Throws Itachi a lemon crème-filled cookie stick.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto that honor is held by Masashi Kishimoto (lucky bastard)

Orange Crush-Chapter 2 by Kitsunefun

“One must travel down a road of loneliness before they can reach salvation…” a pair of black eyes blinked. It was the only sign that the oldest Uchiha had heard the teenager sitting beside him.

“Leave it be, Mekurou; Itachi-sempai doesn’t need to hear such trivialities today. His future love interest is arriving after all…” Tom said in a calm voice as he played with his sudoku puzzles.

Itachi’s clique had all decided to sit out in front of the school to wait for the bell to signal the start of orientation; but instead of looking to beat up on some unsuspecting freshman, the entire group was stuck waiting with Itachi for someone the stoic older boy refused to mention.

The Shark-man had been befuddled by the look of pure happiness that seemed to flash in best friend’s eyes and the small smile that accompanied it at the mention of the ‘Beautiful Individual’ as the Uchiha called him. It truly was a miracle, but what everyone had been shocked most about was the lack of information on Itachi’s part… If Itachi told anyone, it would have been Kisame and it was the first time his best friend had refused to tell him anything, Kisame was left wondering, ‘why?’

It was a well-known fact amongst the clique secretly called ‘Blood-Rite’ that Itachi rarely showed any delight other than when he tortured his own brother or extorted favors from others in order to do his dirty work. Mekurou turned to eye Itachi as he stared steadfastly towards the front of the school’s entrance and he felt an overwhelming feeling of dread. What if the mysterious person didn’t show up? Where would that leave the group or Itachi?

There was no possible way that they could miss the individual since Itachi had made sure they arrived with him over an hour early so they would not miss this special person - even though their was no way in hell a normal person would come this early on the first day of school. Mekurou watched in surprise as a green clad boy with a bowl haircut ran by shouting, “YOSH!!!” He felt his eye twitch. ‘Ok maybe one idiot.’ He made a mental note to locate the boy later and kick the shit out of him.

“Can you at least tell us what they look like Itachi?” This question came from Konan who was working on an intricately folded piece of origami that she intended to turn into a fox - per Itachi’s request. Apparently the one he fancied liked foxes; it was enough to make Mekurou want to tear out his short and intricately styled purple hair. And he would have if he didn’t spend so much money on said hair to make it look perfect; it wouldn’t do to mess it up now.

Itachi actually smiled which made the normal noises that sounded through the group stop, ‘Clearly…’ Mekurou thought, ‘It must be the end of the world if Itachi was smiling like that. Just who was this person he was waiting for?’

“You’ll know when you see them,” Itachi stated simply before leaning forward in order to rest his head in his hands as he continued to eye the front for any expected movement.

So far it was the most said out of Itachi’s mouth in one sitting because the rest of the hour was spent on him eyeing the front gate eagerly but with each passing minute that lead them closer and closer to the opening ceremony’s bell, they started to realize that this mysterious person may never appear.

At one point Itachi let out his frustration by calling his brother at the latest possible moment before the bell rang - making it virtually impossible for Sasuke to arrive on time. Everyone in the group had laughed at the irony of having met someone who clearly had been born into the wrong family; if they had cared enough about Sasuke they would have felt sorry for him.

The suddenly ringing of the bell 15 minutes later with no signs of Itachi’s special someone appearing anytime soon set everyone on edge who had chosen to sit with the black-haired teen. This was one of those instances that made one wish they weren’t popular and were in another continent altogether. It was the sort of fear Itachi instilled on a daily basis amongst others and his own clique was no exception.

Itachi sat up and eyed the gate in undisclosed pain as someone started to close it just as the final bell rang, “He didn’t come…” it was the only clue that helped the others in the clique to figure out who Itachi’s special person was; and it was an eye-opener hearing that their leader was apparently gay.

Kisame, being the great thinker he was decided it might be best if the others left so he could talk to Itachi alone. He silently shooed everyone away with his hands behind the Uchiha’s back before walking up and resting a hand on Itachi’s shoulder, “Maybe he got delayed?”

“No…” The anger in Itachi’s face made even Kisame take a step back as he realized that the raven’s eyes had suddenly turned a pure blood red. Anyone who was anyone at Konoha knew never to cross the oldest Uchiha brother when his eyes turned red. The only time someone had dared to, they had ended up in a coma due to the boy’s extensive injuries. Rumors had followed saying that whatever Itachi had done to him had festered and spread through his system causing a meltdown of bodily tissues; it had been a miracle that Dr Tsunade of the Asian Freedom Force had been able to save him at all.

Kisame watched as Itachi slowly closed his eyes and took a deep steadying breath as his hands closed around the metal seat he was sitting on. It melted easily under his touch as the raven-haired youth cooled down, “I have a reliable source that said he was going to be here… they have never lied to me before.“

Who the source was, was as much of a mystery as whom Itachi had fallen for and it left Kisame bewildered over who it could possibly be. Despite the danger his best friend presented by mentioning anything involving the situation, Kisame decided to ask again. “Just who is He, Itachi?”

Now normal dark eyes turned to regard him a moment in indecision before turning to look almost mournfully at the gates one last time, “You wouldn’t know him, but Kakashi introduced him to me once… I…” he paused and actually blushed, which made Kisame pause in open mouthed wonder at the rare sight, “I have never felt this way about anyone before… its like he can fill my heart and mind with sunshine… so beautiful.”

‘Was it even possible for another boy to be considered beautiful?’ Kisame thought before daring to sit next to Itachi on the other side of the bench where it wasn’t melted through. “Maybe you should ask your source what happened?” he nudged Itachi in the shoulder in a friendly manner before peering closely at best friend’s, now hopeful, expression, “Then you can be ready for him when he does come… right?”

A smile lit up Itachi’s face at the idea of seeing his love after all, he gave an indistinct grunt, “Hn…” before standing up and getting ready to walk in the direction of the auditorium with his hands hidden within the pockets of his long and dark overcoat.

Just then, Kisame watched as an unusual orange colored blur came rushing over the closed fence at the front of the school. It could only belong to the Orange Flash. It amazed the blue-skinned male how the idiot could defy gravity itself due to the speed he projected… it truly was a wonder to see. Kisame turned to point out the amusing oddity that was Arashi’s son to Itachi, only to look on flabbergasted as the raven’s eyes remained steadfastly on Naruto’s form.

‘Was that a look of warmth?’ Kisame thought as his mouth dropped open in surprise while he watched the seemingly normal almost impassive dark eyes of his best friend fairly sparkle in joy at the blonde super’s entrance, ‘Wow this day really is going to hell,’ he looked back in the Orange Flash’s direction and noticed that he was entering the main doorway that lead towards the offices, teacher’s lounge and Nurse’s office in a hurry.

He briefly wondered why the speedster had headed in that direction, but he shrugged off the odd event as possibly being in connection to the group the younger boy was affiliated with, “I guess we better get going Itachi, it looks like your love interest is busy at the moment.”

Itachi didn’t seem to care as the smile remained on his face as he followed Kisame towards the direction of the auditorium.

Neither of them noticed the ghost-like form that had been hovering above them and listening to their conversation until they left. The shadow then zipped back to its container and gasped as they began to breath normally through their lungs upon return to their regular form, “He’s finally here!”

The secretary who had been walking by the green haired youth as he lay on his back on top of the bench, only shook her head in annoyance over the lackadaisical Supers these days before heading off towards the direction of the principal’s office.

The boy who had woken up from his spiritual flight, named Kite, blinked his pale lavender eyes in confusion over why the Uchiha heir was so interested in the ‘Orange Flash’, he figured it had to do with the fact that the youngest member of the Asian Justice League was considered a real celebrity amongst the younger generation of Supers.

Excited by the news, Kite - the #1 gossip hound of the school - felt it was his duty to inform the student body who was going to be in their midst soon. He raced off towards his friends’ class in order to spread the news as quickly as possible via MSN on his friend’s Blackberry.

By the time Naruto and Sasuke had made their way to the cafeteria later that day, Kite’s news had spread through the entire student body like wildfire, causing general chaos and excitement - especially for the girl population of the school who couldn’t wait to compete for the position of the ‘Orange Flash’s girlfriend’.

So it had surprised everyone when the boy suddenly came rushing in to the cafeteria, after having been absent for half of the day, with none other than the #1 loser in all of Konoha High School, Sasuke Uchiha.

The silence within the large cafeteria was deafening, Naruto seemed oblivious to the quiet as he gently placed Sasuke down onto his feet in order to join the long lunch line on the right side of the cafeteria.

Left on his own, Sasuke felt self-conscious since the majority of the looks were trained in his direction and none of them were out of curiosity or happiness; all he could feel was the hatred they had for him radiating off in waves.

“Hey Sasuke?” when the raven didn’t answer right away, Naruto tapped him softly on the shoulder in order to gain his attention.

Sasuke flinched under the slight touch, but it was the only conscious emotion he showed in response because all his attention had shifted to the surrounding student body. A boy with shoulder length and white hair suddenly rose to his feet and threw a full Snapple bottle at Sasuke’s head, “Get the hell out of here freak!”

The raven’s eyes widened in shock as he watched the glass bottle fly towards his head. Feeling helpless to stop it, Sasuke resigned to his fate and closed his eyes as he waited for the pain to come.

A few minutes passed and the raven-haired youth felt nothing, ‘Had it been his imagination?’ Sasuke thought as he peeked open an eye to see what was going on, only to open both eyes in surprise at the tan hand that held the glass bottle an inch away from his face. He looked up and was surprised to see Naruto glaring in the direction of the boy that threw the bottle.

The boy who had thrown the bottle seemed stunned and looked on in horror as Naruto moved the bottle away slowly, mere inches away from Sasuke’s pale face, “Didn’t your mother ever tell you to never waste food?” the blond practically growled in his direction.

A baldheaded kid, who was standing next to the white-haired youth, leaned close and shook his friend’s shoulder in order to get his attention, “Dude… that’s the Orange Flash…”

Loud murmuring started amongst the student body at the mentioned name of the famed youngest member of the ‘Asian Freedom Force’.

“It’s him its really him…”

“Oh my god!”

“He’s so hot.”

“Did you see him catch that bottle?”

Everyone seemed to have forgotten Sasuke in favor of talking about the newest and most powerful student to enter Konoha High.

The raven however, could only look up at Naruto as he sighed and ran a hand through his hair in partial frustration over the attitude of the students. He lifted a pale hand and gripped at the blonde’s sleeve, making Naruto turn his head to look down at Sasuke curiously, “Yeah?”

Sasuke shook his head, deciding it was better not to say anything in case Naruto wasn’t interested in telling the raven if whether or not the bald kid’s statement was true. If so, that meant he couldn’t hang out with the blonde because his brother would never allow him to. “Never mind…” He looked away from those bright blue eyes and gripped at his chest that had started to ache as if pained by thoughts of not being close to the blonde like this again. “I have to go…”

“Sasuke?” Naruto watched the raven-haired boys shoulder tense a bit before he straitened them and got ready to leave. He couldn’t understand why Sasuke allowed the rest of the student body to do as they pleased. Didn’t he want a regular and happy student life?

“Let him go… he’s just useless trash.”

Naruto’s head whipped around to glare at the person who had spoken; it was an older girl with long bright red hair that fell to her waist in spikes. He would have laughed at how she resembled a porcupine if he wasn’t pissed about her attitude towards Sasuke.

“I suggest you take that back.” his voice held an almost growl-like tone as his fists clenched and unclenched in his anger towards the red-haired girl.

The girl gave Naruto a saucy grin before planting one of her hands on her hips, “Why should I… since I think you and I could have so much fun.”

A shorter and younger girl with pink hair that barely reached her shoulders in waves moved to push the older girl away, “Like hell Karin… if he’s going to hang out with anyone it will be me!”

Another girl, this one with long blonde hair pulled back into a long ponytail, started laughing at the other two girls. “As if he would be interested in a human porcupine and a billboard head… get over yourselves.” She turned in Naruto’s direction and openly leered, “He’s all mine,” she licked her red lips slowly, believing it would instantly turn on the Asian Freedom Force member easily.”

Sasuke was surprised to see Naruto looking down at the three girls in bewilderment, it almost seemed like he was uncomfortable with the attention. Despite his better judgment the raven turned back and grabbed onto the blonde’s hand in order to pull him away.

Blue eyes turned to stare down at him in mystification, wondering what Sasuke had in mind. In that moment when their skin touched again and eyes met, the raven had another vision.

Pleasure. So intense it was almost painful as it traveled up his spine from where he and Naruto where connected. The raven could see the uncertainty in the blonde’s eyes over what the raven was doing and Sasuke wanted nothing more than to show him the pleasure he could see occurring between them. Before the raven thought about his actions, he pulled Naruto down by the lapels of his school jacket and kissed him fully on the mouth.

It got the right reaction that Sasuke anticipated from not only the girl’s trying to mentally sex Naruto up, but also the student body that was still eyeing the two. It was like someone had used a board to simultaneously smack everyone on the back of the head. The look of open shock and disgust was so intense. It would have been funny if Sasuke didn’t fear for his life… except that it didn’t happen. Sasuke focused back from the vision in his head, as he saw Naruto talking with a girl in front of him saying that he needed to excuse himself before heading in the direction of the school lunch line.

The girl’s stared in open mouthed wonder as their blonde Adonis walked away without looking back as if none of what just happened mattered. One of the girl’s - Sakura, turned to look in his direction and sneered, “Well if it isn’t the loser… why don’t you eat where the trash is, like you belong!”

The other two girls turned to look in his direction at the pink haired girl’s comment and gave him equal looks of absolute loathing - it was almost suffocating. Sasuke was ready to run only he was held in place by a tan hand that gripped his arm.

The raven looked up and saw Naruto smiling down at him, “I want you to sit with me today, ok Sasuke?”

The dark-haired boy gaped up at the blonde in surprise at the request. No one had ever wanted to sit with him before - not even his family. The gesture made Sasuke wonder just who Naruto was exactly because he wasn’t like anyone he was used to.

While it made him overjoyed that the blonde was showing him so much interest, it also left him scared. What if this was all just a dream? At some point Itachi was bound to come into his room and drop a pile of mud on top of his head and then he would wake up with the knowledge that none of it was real. The thought depressed him since it would explain the odd flashes of increasingly erotic scenes involving the blonde and him that ran through his head and he knew perfectly well that could never be true.

The strange part for him was the growing realization that Sasuke was starting to enjoy the strange flashes. Now he had never considered himself attracted to anyone since no one had wanted anything to do with him before. So question was why now and why Naruto?

The raven had no more time to dwell on this as Naruto started to drag him outside after grabbing what he needed from the lunch line. Sasuke turned to look behind him briefly at the three girls they left behind and watched as the pink haired girl mouthed the words that she would get him later; it sent a shiver of dread up his spine. However it was nothing compared to the cold feeling that gripped his heart when he noticed Itachi enter the cafeteria just as both he and Naruto exited.

Naruto headed towards the grassy knolls outside; the rest of the student body tended to avoid the area since only losers ate outside and no one would be caught dead being seen with any of the other losers. Naruto didn’t seem to understand this as he made his way to the very top of the small hill next to the cafeteria and proceeded to sit down. The blonde patted the grassy spot next to him, inviting Sasuke to sit with him. Considering the option of dealing with the rest of the student body - especially Itachi and his crew, it was a welcome change to be able to sit next to someone without fear of being picked upon or beaten up.

Sitting next to Naruto, he watched as the blonde began to eat his sandwiches in partial fascination and disgust at the amount of food that entered the blonde’s mouth. Sasuke spotted 5 Pastrami, 6 roast-beef, 4 tuna, 2 vegetarians and 1 lone meatball sandwich; there had to be almost every available sandwich sitting in front of Naruto. If Sasuke wasn’t hungry himself, he probably would have hurled at the site of someone eating so much food in one sitting.

Naruto paused in mid bite when he felt Sasuke’s eyes watching him and blushed in embarrassment, “Ah… I know this looks strange, but unfortunately Baa-chan had to make some more of my Meta-juice - it helps with my body’s super metabolism. There was a delay in shipping the special ingredient from Peru so I’m stuck eating normal food today.” The blonde took another healthy bite of his sandwich before continuing, “Believe me I don’t like eating this much if I can help it… it kind of makes my jaw and stomach sore.”

There was a loud gurgling sound in answer; Naruto almost laughed, except he just realized that Sasuke hadn’t bought anything for himself. “Aren’t you going to get something?” he asked while taking another bite of his 3rd sandwich.

Amazingly he had managed to get what he wanted by avoiding the majority of the crowd in the cafeteria by arriving early; but their had still been some shocked looks as everyone eyed the blonde as he got his sandwiches before zooming out with Sasuke in hand to the grassy knoll outside so they could eat in private and Naruto could get to know the raven better. The realization that Naruto wanted to eat lunch with him had surprised Sasuke, but he had also been thrilled since he was finding that he liked the blonde the more they got to know each other.

Naruto was different than anyone Sasuke had ever met before; he was like a ball of light, with his golden kissed skin, cheerful face and exuberant disposition. How could anyone deny or resist the chance to be close to that? And best of all he liked Sasuke; really liked him unlike everyone the raven had ever met and Sasuke relished the feeling a lot.

He shook his head in answer to Naruto’s question, “No… I forgot my money at home, so I couldn’t buy anything.” It was a lie, but he didn’t want to admit to the blonde that the lunch ladies often ignored his request or if they were in an especially bad mood would sometimes give him something that had been thrown in the garbage - which happened more often than not.

Naruto paused in starting his 5th sandwich to eye Sasuke thoughtfully, before he leaned down and picked up one of the roast beef sandwiches and threw it on Sasuke’s lap. The raven looked over at him in amazement, “You don’t have to give me this. I can always eat when I get home.”

The blonde let out a loud snort. “I’m not stupid Sasuke… I’ve noticed people’s odd reactions around here towards you so I am not about to let you starve… it would only make your enemies happy, right?”

Sasuke picked up the sandwich and eyed the thick layers of roast beef stuffed between the two pieces of bread along with some tomato and lettuce; it was far better than anything Sasuke had eaten in a while and he bit into the thick sandwich in relish. The sight made Naruto laugh as he watched the smaller boy practically inhale the sandwich. “Wow… never thought I would see someone eat faster than me before, it’s rather… shocking.”

Sasuke’s face tinted a bright red in response as he used the edge of his jacket sleeve to wipe at his mouth, before turning to look away in embarrassment.

“You missed a spot…”

The raven turned to look at Naruto in a moment in confusion, “What spot?”

The blonde shook his head in bemusement. “Here let me…” he leaned close to Sasuke’s face and lifted his hand and brushed his thumb underneath the raven’s bottom lip before sticking the thumb into his mouth and licking the bit of mayo stuck to it before leaning back. “There… all gone.”

The action caused Sasuke to freeze in shock as the area the blonde had just touched started to tingle pleasantly - just before he was bombarded by another erotic image of Naruto leaning close and licking at the seal of his lips making him moan in response. The raven didn’t realize how focused he was on the image that was playing in his head until he felt a slight pain hit the center of his forehead; he reopened his eyes to stare into worried blue.

“You ok?” the blonde asked as he watched the life re-enter his new friend’s dark eyes; it had scared him a bit, and he wondered if Sasuke had a physical problem that he didn’t know about. The raven only seemed confused as he came out of the dream, ‘What had that been just then?’ he looked at Naruto and felt his pulse quicken in excitement when he realized how close the other boy’s lips were to his own; just another inch and they could be kissing.

‘No… I can’t do that…’ the raven moved back a bit with an awkward sounding laugh. “I guess I am still a little tired.” He faked a yawn and Naruto’s frown faded a bit. Sasuke didn’t know why, but he realized that he didn’t like the image of the blonde frowning. Sasuke felt Naruto deserved to look happy always, but most of all he secretly wanted to be the one to make him happy.

Naruto didn’t seem concerned by the change in topic; in fact he looked at the watch on his wrist thoughtfully for a second before looking to stare over at Sasuke. “You know I don’t think we would be missing too much school if we left now and visited Baa-chan. Would you like to come with me?”

How could Sasuke deny Naruto when he stared at him like that with those large blue eyes? He could see the blonde easily becoming the most popular boy in school - even more than his brother. Despite his fear that getting close to Naruto was a bad idea, Sasuke decided that for once in his life he would take a chance and go with the other boy.

“Sure…” the raven nodded yes. He stood up after finishing the last of his sandwich while Naruto bundled up whatever wrappers remained before throwing them in the garbage. He then took Sasuke by surprise again by lifting him onto his back in piggyback style before racing off towards his Baa-Chan’s house at the speed of sound.

Sasuke didn’t know who she was but if she was anything like Naruto, he decided it might not be bad after all. It made him feel that despite his earlier predictions that this day might turn out ok. The raven however didn’t notice the flashing red eyes that glared in his direction as the two left - otherwise he would have rethought his decision.