When in Venice

A/N: Written for hina88 who is still far too cruel to me. -___- you’d think she’d have sweetened up a little by now D:

*

The volume had been turned up again. Sakura stood before him, talking amicably as she attempted to take the coffee out his hands. A strand of her pink hair was stuck to her forehead. Perspiration was beaded along her eyebrows which were now arched in enquiry.

The eye contact was broken, and for a moment Sasuke panicked irrationally because he couldn’t remember the shade of blue that they were.

“Sasuke, you’re acting weird.” Sakura seemed to have gotten a little annoyed now. He looked down at her. Her green eyes softened and she smiled. Her lips curved too much, her lashes were too long, the line of her jaw too smooth, heart-shaped. With an unexplainable surge of frustration his eyes narrowed.

Mouth turning in a downward twist, he walked away, momentarily forgetting the surprised blue eyes in his urge to get out of the crowded airport.

He located the rest of the group with a concerned and confused Sakura following. Ino stood in the centre of an open space surrounded by her copious amount of baggage arguing loudly with Neji while Hinata stood in his shadow, almost cowering as the two argued on her behalf.

“He was hot,” she emphasised the word as if this argument should end on that statement. Her upturned nose was high in the air. Neji did not seem amused. His white eyes burned at the long pony tail of blonde hair which was now presented to him before it whipped into his face, cutting off his reply.

“Ah! The little emo boy is back!” Now a pair of black eyes joined in with the silent glaring.

*

For Naruto, it felt like he had blinked, something pink had obscured his view, and then blinked again and there was just an empty space left. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It felt like three photo snaps in time, dark eyes, and pink, then nothing.

He didn’t know why he kept thinking about this but as his mind processed the instinct to reach out, everything around him in the world slotted back into place. Sai stood once again before him an easy fake smile playing across his otherwise blank face. He stood in the busy Venice Marco Polo airport watching as his friends were in the various stages of collecting their things. The dark eyes before his were so similar to the ones he had just seen. Their shape, their colour, all blurred together in his mind.

Sai took a step closer and Naruto leaned forwards automatically before spluttering as lips touched his. His hands and legs jumped to life as he pushed the pale man away, hacking whatever trace of Sai had entered into him and wiping at his mouth.

“Yup, as dickless as ever,” Sai didn’t seem in the slightest bit perturbed by Naruto’s negative reaction. He tilted his head at the flare of anger in Naruto’s clear eyes. “See you Naruto,” he murmured with no inflection, lifting his backpack and joining the others as they made their way to the departure entrances.

He felt a hand clap on his shoulder and turned to see Kiba walking just ahead, his hand raised, his back presented. Naruto slumped down on the metal linked seats, his foot kicking restlessly at the carpet. He should have gone with them. He regretted it now. Now that there was no one to talk to, to laugh with and what felt like no direction to go in.

A knot tightened in his stomach. He rubbed absently at his lips, picking at the skin there.

*

Sasuke watched in mild amusement as the argument between Ino and Neji escalated to the point where she was hitting him across the head with the map he had bought. They had finally managed to locate where the water bus stops were and were trying to decide which boat they needed to take.

The choice had been between the ATVO bus which would have taken them to Piazzale Roma or the Alilaguna waterbus which would take them to San Marco. Ino had been insistent on going to Piazzale Roma, which would have been quite useless as, Neji’s map has rightly indicated, it went in the wrong direction.

Ino had now given up with her hitting of Neji’s head when he caught her hand by the wrist in mid air. His cool glare had roamed across her face and her eyes had briefly widened before she pulled away, boarding the bus with the gracious help of the conductor. Once again leaving her baggage for her friends to pick up. Sasuke sighed, moderately entertaining now it may be, he could tell their constant bickering would get grating soon.

It still hadn’t hit him that he was in Venice. That he was close to seeing the culture the place was infused with. For him, they were simply at another airport with the sun brighter, the sky bluer and the air thicker. A bead of sweat trailed a lazy path from the nape of his neck down the length of his spine. He felt uncomfortably hot but still eyed with disdain the other tourists waiting in line with their hand held fans and water bottles.

He began helping Neji lug the suitcases into the boat. He was thoroughly convinced that Ino carried with her the dead bodies of those that had wronged her and that Neji was likely to join them soon.

*

Naruto was sprinting, his energy returned once he realised how late it was getting, and that if he didn’t catch the 4 o’clock Alilaguna waterbus back to San Marco he’d have to wait another hour before the next one arrived. His feet slapped the asphalt as he increased his speed; his back pack was slung over one arm as he tried to shift it to the other while running. The afternoon air was only slightly less warm than before and the now orange sun hung low in the sky casting pink undertones to the clouds.

He caught sight of the motoscafi water boat tied down to one of the poles at the side of the harbor with rope. Speeding up it came into view and he saw that it was packed, one last pink-haired passenger was being helped onto the constantly moving surface of the boat as the engine revved, more water being whipped into foam.

“Wait!” Naruto yelled out in vain as the sound of his voice didn’t carry very far over, “un momento!” His ineptness at Italian did however get some attention; the last passenger turned her head towards him. She saw him waving frantically and indicated to the conductor to stop unraveling the rope that held the boat in place.

Naruto put on a burst of speed for the last few yards before coming to a stop, his hands dropping down to brace on his knees as he drew in quiet short breaths. Recovering a little, he clambered quickly into the boat. In his eagerness to say thank you to the pretty young woman who was watching him with a hint of curiosity he tripped over the rope, falling comically at her feet.

His eye twitched as he lay on the floor at her feet, reluctant to move and see what would most likely be a sneer marring her features. She had pretty feet too. While he was noticing that, she had bent down so that she was as close to eye level as possible. Naruto’s eyes widened at her smile and he grinned back in response.

They stood up, Naruto rubbing the back of his head in uncertainty. The conductor had left, raising an eyebrow at the pair as he did so.

“Ciao! Mi chiamo Naruto…” Naruto decided to test out his broken Italian again while slinging off his backpack and routing through it for his phrase book.

*

Sasuke didn’t notice Sakura had fallen behind until Hinata had worriedly pointed it out to her cousin. Neji was now looking a little less like himself and increasingly harassed which was due to Ino picking up her favourite pastime. This involved pointing out attractive men and loudly discussing them as potential matches for Hinata.

Neji had rubbed at the furrow between his thin eyebrows, and was muttering about having to deal constantly with idiotic girls and Sasuke found himself volunteering to go look for Sakura.

He pushed through the crowded waterbus. People sat on plastic not-so-white seats, their suitcases safely towed away at the back of the bus. Sasuke cast a searching eye over the tourists, narrowing at anything pink that caught his eye. More often than not, the ‘pink’ belonged to the bald head of an overly large sweaty tourist.

Sasuke worked his way to along the wall where cool air was being blown in from the open window. His fingers brushed the cracked chipping paint of the wall as he stood on tip toes, craning to see around yet another large tourist. Finally he managed to get to the back where a door stood ajar, the back exit for passengers who wanted to walk around the outside.

He pushed the door slightly, which immediately swung back at him. Glaring at it, he pushed a little more firmly, holding it open. Sakura’s characteristic pink hair came into view. She was sat to the side on one of the benches with her back to him, talking amicably to what appeared to him as a tuft of blond hair and a pair of legs stretched out, crossed at the ankles.

“Sakura,” he called, “we’re at the front.” He saw her start at the sound of his voice but didn’t wait for her reply. Turning on his heel he walked back inside. He didn’t particularly want to be drawn into an exaggeratedly polite conversation with some stranger, discussing in great detail how delightful the weather was. Sakura could join them when she was done.

*

The woman, girl really, smiled again. “Hi, Naruto,” she spoke in perfect English. Naruto stopped rooting through his bag for his phrase book and looked up at her sheepishly. He grinned at her feeling suddenly at a loss of what to say.

Her green eyes sparkled with amusement. “I’m Sakura,” and for some reason Naruto found himself smiling more in response.

“Are you on holiday, too?” She went to sit on the benches provided, “my friends are around here somewhere,” she spoke while peering through the open door.

“Nah, I’m going home tomorrow, I was seeing some friends off…” He didn’t feel all that heavy in his heart anymore; there were always new friends to make, new people to expose to his pranks. He would just miss the old ones. Even Sai.

They started talking because when Naruto was nervous, he talked, a lot. Sakura and her friends were here on holiday for a week. Naruto was excited to find out that she was from England too, her accent had been pretty neutral and soon enough he was talking about it animatedly.

“Yeah! When I first visited the zoo, I could have sworn that the penguin tried to bite me.” Naruto scrunched his face up at the memory. He left out the fact that he had gone alone, slipping out of the house while his foster father had been passed out on the living room sofa. “I’m telling you, it attacked. Penguins are evil.” He finished off the statement, crossing his arms, a pout threatening to curve his lips. Sakura giggled in response.

She jumped though when a low voice spoke from behind, “Sakura, we’re at the front.” And before Naruto could turn his head to get a look at her friend, the man had disappeared behind the swinging doors. He caught a glimpse of someone tall with dark hair, the back of their heel clicking out of view.

He turned back to Sakura who looked a little agitated now. She was twisting her hands in her lap and suddenly the vivacious woman he had been talking to had turned into something meek and small. She smiled at him hesitatingly.

“They’re probably worried about where I am,” Naruto wanted to point out that her friend hadn’t seemed particularly fussed. However he could see her demeanor had changed in subtle shifts.

He grinned, forced, so that the linear marks stretched with curve of his cheek bones. “You should go find them!”

She put up a small amount of a protest out of politeness before leaving with an “it was so nice to meet you,” and disappearing behind the swinging door.

“Yeah, nice to meet you too,” Naruto sighed, standing up to lean against the railings. He bent over to watch the water as the sun heated the back of his neck.

*

Sakura and Ino were in their element. Even Hinata’s shy nature couldn’t hide her excitement. They were currently in Rialto market. The late afternoon sun cast a warm orange glow on the cobbled streets of Venice. They had decided to pass through the Rialto market on their way to the apartment they were renting for the week. They had wanted to pick up some food but quickly realised that the food stalls would not be up.

Sakura and Ino flitted from stall to stall trying on the jewelry, fingering the clothes and gazing with love sick expressions at the intricate beautifully designed masks. Sasuke looked around him and felt an inner peace wash over him. Everything was so different here compared to back home. It was all in colour.

Hinata was trying on a purple mask made of satin and gold leaves, held together with a twisting of gold wire around the edges. Neji was watching her with a calm smile on his face. Sakura and Ino eventually settled on finding their own masks. Sakura’s was a rich green which, had Sasuke been inclined to notice, matched her eyes perfectly. Ino, similarity picked one to enhance her light blue eyes; blue with purple edges. Both of theirs were to be held with handles.

“You are all going to the festival tonight, yes?” The stall owner spoke his heavy Italian accent which had Ino staring starry eyed at him. Sasuke refused to acknowledge that the thought that the man was indeed very beautiful had crossed his mind. The fact that question was directed at him surprised him a little and he ignored it completely.

Neji’s smile morphed to a scowl when he saw Ino questioning the man further. Sasuke smirked. Neji was rather transparent at these times; he couldn’t understand why Neji just didn’t fuck her and get it out of his system. It wasn’t like Ino would object.

“The festival tonight,” the deep voice continued, his English improving as the three girls around him gave him their complete attention. “The feast of La Sensa is tonight. It is the Sunday after the Ascension of our Lord Jesus’ into heaven,” Sasuke stopped paying attention once a worshipping light entered the man’s eyes. Neji seemed to have had the same reaction, but their female counterparts urged the man to continue.

He continued to talk about the historical boats that would be used in the water procession, describing the landmarks that they would go through. Sasuke looked around and his eye caught on another mask. It was made of yellow silk, narrower than the girls’ masks and firmer, framed with two green leaves on the right side and with touches of gold on the edges. He gazed at it for a little while longer before his attention was drawn back to the group. Neji was donning a slim light grey mens’ mask and was handing him a similar black one out to him with a neutral expression.

*

“No no, sir, you must buy a mask,” the dark skinned stall owner spoke, pulling Naruto away from the cheap tourist trinkets. “How can you go to the festival tonight without one? The girls want an air of mystery in a man!”

Naruto bought it hook, line and sinker and immediately started looking around at the expensive masks, most of which he could currently not afford. He flitted from mask to mask, trying out on all the extravagant ones, striking dramatic poses in the mirror provided. And in the back of his mind he tried to find one that would cover his marks.

“I want that one,” Naruto pointed with enthusiasm at his chosen mask, digging through his frog wallet for the remainder of his money. He wanted to take home a reminder of his stay there. Out of all the places he had visited, Venice was the one that held the most room in his heart. He wanted to always remember how warm the cobbled stones were. That at almost every corner he could see the expanse of water, the wooden bridges and even the moss crawling up the sides of the buildings.

*

Sasuke fingered the slim Italian cigarette he’d just pulled out from the packet. He had fallen behind from the rest of the group. Ino had been goading Neji again and Sakura seemed to think the romantic scenery of Venice was just the place to make moony eyes at him. They had ended up walking along to the docks for the festival. Locating their apartment hadn’t been easy. Sasuke had finally snapped enough to snatch the map out of the Ino’s hands and walked ahead, not caring if the others followed.

Sasuke was now dressed in a white shirt and black slacks, with the mask obscuring half his face. His lips parted for the cigarette and it slide between them as a hand reached up, cupping the white stick to light the tip.

Sasuke had slipped away for what had only meant to be a short while but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to go find them through the crowd. Fat drops began falling, and it was typical that his cigarette was put out before he could inhale. Cupping his hand again, he relit the tip, inhaling deeply and blowing the smoke out as his lips parted once more, the nicotine already singing through his system. As the smoke before him cleared his eyes caught a twinkle of gold. He found himself looking into deep blue eyes framed with a yellow silk mask. A young man sat some distance away, his gaze directed on Sasuke, their eyes locked for a long moment. Sasuke’s cigarette hung limp at the edge of his lips. He pulled it away, crushing the embers with his heel. Spiky blond hair fell in locks tangled with the leaves of the mask. He knew that yellow silk mask and he knew those eyes.

The rain continued to fall and after so long of outright staring did Sasuke realize he was steadily becoming soaked. He quirked an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes before turning and entering the building nearest with two stone lions at the entrance.

*

Naruto shifted his mask slightly, securing it in place. He didn’t know what he was thinking coming alone to this festival. It was either groups of friends or couples holding hands. He had stopped previously in surprise as one pair suddenly started kissing passionately before his eyes. They had seemed to be having an argument one moment, and the next, the man with long dark hair had grabbed the girl, one hand gripping the back of her pony tail, tugging it to angle her face upwards and the other hand on the small of her back. He brought his face down to her surprised one and was soon kissing her soundly.

Naruto knew he shouldn’t have stopped to stare so shamelessly, but it made him grin to think that that was their first kiss. Even if it had looked like the man with the grey mask was just kissing her in order for her to shut up.

He had broken away from the crowd after a while. He had seen something that had caught his interest so alarmingly quickly that he hadn’t realised he was following until it was too late.

Pale skin and dark eyes were all he could think of. Naruto didn’t think his breath could catch at the sight of such a beautiful man. He had followed him until he saw him stop and lean against the wall of an old museum he recognized. In the light of the moon obscured partially by purple bruised clouds, Naruto watched as the man’s lips parted for a cigarette, his own mouth mirroring the action.

Even with the rain falling he didn’t blink, and his mouth remained dry. He followed again the instant the other turned to enter the building. He patted the stone lion on the snout as he went.

*

Sasuke grabbed the stranger around the collar as soon as he was in distance pushing him up against the wall. The building was dark but he could tell that it was in the process of demolition. The wall crumbled slightly at the force he used.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” The other spoke, barely getting out his words before Sasuke moved forwards, placing his head within an inch of the man’s mouth.

“Taking a risk,” Sasuke murmured, his breath entering the parted lips. Then his mouth met the other’s

Sasuke moved his body against the other’s rubbing against him as they kissed. Sasuke enjoyed the feeling of pressing the toned body harder against the wall. His hands released the grip on the collar to brace on the dusty surface behind, trapping the other in place.

Sasuke was ready for the push when it came, and stepped smoothly to the side as the mouth twisted away from his.