Evanescent Trail

To make it stand, you wet it!
To make it wet, you suck it!
To make it stiff, you lick it!
To get it in, you PUSH!

II
It’s no joke!

“Oh, it’s standing!” Sasuke stiffened, his grip on his messenger bag tensing as he stopped just in front of the door at hearing Naruto’s excited voice.

“Told you it will.” He paused altogether at Kiba’s confident words, he thought he was way too early to be in school at seven in the morning, but he never thought that anyone would be earlier than him. As usual it was Kiba, those two were never separated ever since in primary school, in pranking, in skipping, even during lunch, Kiba was always teased about being Naruto’s own personal guard dog.

“What do I do next?” Sasuke strained his black ears to the door, listening in at Naruto’s innocent question and suspicion growing at the pit of his belly. Something didn’t sound right in the Uchiha’s ears.

“Well… I don’t know, to be honest. You just push it in, I guess.”

“What!?” The blonde’s voice pierced the raven’s ear with its shrill incredulous tone, making it twitch and jerk downwards flat against the cat’s head, but when it died down it stood up again to listen. “How can something like that fit inside something so small? It’s impossible!”

“Come on, just let me do it! You’re so slow, get on with it.”

“Ow! Hey! Get your finger-” Dark usually bored eyes rounded.

“Oh, it’s gone soft! It’s your fault!”

“No it’s not, you’re the one who just went and grabbed it. What do we do now?” Just as Sasuke was about to push the door open, Neji appeared on his side, if not for his inborn ability to be introverted, his furs would have stood on ends. Neji just kept silent, switching his gazes from Sasuke and the door and gaining understanding.

“Start again, dammit. Wet it.” Neji narrowed his eyes as he heard Kiba’s pissed off voice.

“Again? Why do I always have to?” But then he shared a look with Sasuke as they both turned their heads into the general direction of their current attention.

“Because! You’re the one holding it!”

“Hi guys what’s-” Neji’s hand suddenly clamped on Sakura’s mouth, while Ino rejoiced at being shut up by Sasuke, although she took that back when she saw menace leaking on every pore on Sasuke’s face.

A moment of silence.

“I didn’t say you should spit on it!”

“Then what!?” The girls’ eyes widened at the door.

“Lick it.” Hinata let out a suppressed gasp, her bag coming in contact with her mouth as she brought it to cover the half of her blushing face.

Oh my god, first thing in the morning!? Sakura thought frantically.

“Do it again,”

“It’s standing up when I suck it.”

“Yeah. Naruto you’re surprisingly good at this.” Kiba said with amazement and Hinata could feel herself sinking further into embarrassment.

“Shut up. It’s stiff now.”

“Damn let me push it in-”

Sasuke all but threw himself into the room panting, and hollered. “Naruto DAMMIT!”

As the others followed suit the hilarity of it all sent them clenching on their stomachs laughing, while Neji muttered, ‘ridiculous’ hotly since he was the second in line to follow Sasuke and Hinata blushed, shaking the thought of her head and internally calling herself stupid for even thinking such a thing while heaving a sigh of relief.

There by the window was Naruto and Kiba, sitting face to face with each other, on the table beside them was a woven basket filled with many… girly things, while on their joined hands, when Sasuke finally got the brains to look, was a needle, and a friggin’ damn thread.

Naruto and Sasuke’s eyes met, Naruto turned to the door at hearing his name hollered, and Sasuke couldn’t move a single inch when he was caught in the blonde’s questioning gaze, he could feel something hot creeping up his neck to his face, and then he snapped his head to the side, glaring at a dent on the nearest table before slamming his bag there on his given seat, the blonde flinching a little.

“Threading a needle sure is no joke!” Kiba wiped his forehead with the back of his hand with a heavy sigh, letting Naruto repeatedly ask their classmates what the hell were they laughing about, but no one dared voice out the shared secret joke.

After all, what could they possibly do in a handicraft room?

As the students went in and placed themselves on their respected stools before a long table where each of their baskets and things were placed with the humor from earlier still not fading, Sakura stirred around to face Naruto and Kiba on the opposite boy’s section of the table who was now cutting up a fabric with patterns drawn previously by their handicrafts teacher Anko so they could follow. They were self studying, the boobsy snake woman said something about personal business, but they doubted it was just one of her excuses to check out the new releases of Icha Icha from Kakashi.

“But honestly, Naruto what were you doing with Kiba this early in the morning?”

“I’m not so good with things, and I almost always end up messing everything before I eventually make something. So I thought I’d ask Kiba to teach me.” The blonde answered sheepishly, blushing a little with the confession but then turned deadpanned as he narrowed his eyes on Kiba. “Who’d have thought dog-breath here didn’t know a damn thing about it.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well you offered!” Kiba pointed at Naruto accusingly.

“You asked!” Naruto hollered with a louder voice, shifting in his sit to lean forward and glared at Kiba while his forefinger pushed on Kiba’s chest.

“I was asking if your mother’s free so she can teach me! Ow!” Naruto grimaced at the blood forming on his forefinger pushing the needle back in on the pin cushion as he went back to a relaxed position, ignoring Kiba’s grunting. Handicraft my ass, this is pure torture!

“N-Naruto-kun… i-if you want…” Hinata’s cheeks were tinged with pink as she clenched the scarlet fabric on her lap.

“Hn? What?”

“Naruto, if you want to get out of here before you die of blood loss, go ask Sasuke.” Shikamaru yawned, pointing to Sasuke at the farthest corner of the table with the chairs on either side of him free. He was currently filling the now recognizable fabric of a large black cat plushie wider than his torso, which was the easiest part and he was almost finished. As to be expected, he’s good in everything he does, he makes things look easier for Naruto.

But Naruto only smiled at Shikamaru, shaking his head. “Nah, if I can’t do this, then I shouldn’t have bothered being in this class. I can do this!” Naruto said bravely, glaring at the fabric in his hands.

“That’s the spirit!”

“Ow!” Naruto glared daggers on Kiba who had patted his back a little too hard causing for him to cut his finger with a blade while cutting on the threads that had been sewn in the wrong way. Kiba turned smiling apologetically and deciding that it was worth minding his business if he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of his blonde friend’s wrath.

“But you know, it really surprised me.” Hinata said in almost a whisper to Tenten, who asked what.

“I never saw such an expression from Sasuke-kun like that. Somehow… it made me think he’s not unreachable after all.”

“Yeah, he’s always got that cold air about him, like he’s a bastard and damn proud of it.” Temari said from her seat, frowning at the abomination in her hands and then glaring ridiculous at the, for once, cute yellow chick Kankurou was fondly sewing at the other end of the table.

“Makes me wonder what went on in that head of his for him to holler like that earlier.” Tenten snickered, glad that Lee was in another class, no one to embarrass her since the class were split in two, class one to attend handicrafts on Wednesday and class two on phys. Ed. and vice versa on Thursdays, other than that, she’d still have to endure four days of Lee.

“That makes me wonder, you know last year wasn’t Naruto and Sasuke always together?” Tenten prodded Hinata’s shoulder, and the pale eyed cat nodded.

“Instead of the word ‘friends’ they describe each other more as a lovesick puppy and his master. I didn’t know what happened between them that he’s ignoring Sasuke now but-” Shino was cut off by Ino.

“What, maybe Naruto just realized he’s way too hot for Sasuke to handle.” Apparently, Ino had gained new understanding of appreciating androgynous beauty, and the orange wide fabric in her hands which looked not far from a yukata shone like a neon sign warning in Naruto’s eyes earlier.

“Agreed.” Sakura put a thumbs up. Involving Sasuke there’d be no way that they’d find the need to cohabit with each other, but Naruto’s cuteness worked like a separator for their rival instincts.

“Yeah, who’d want to hang out with a guy who always looks like he’s got a stick up the ass?” Kiba glared secretly from his peripheral view as he joined in on the conversation, knowing full well what the bastard did for his friend to suddenly act meek or tense every time Sasuke’s name was involved. Naruto had left to borrow some scissors from Neji who was sitting on the farthest side of the table opposite Sasuke, Neji wanted as much space between them as possible, but Neji was already finished with his work and had already sent his tools back to Anko’s office. Naruto felt bad, he didn’t want to disturb the others from their work, but he forgot to ask for his scissors from Anko since the tools were given previously and he was late at that time. Stupid Kakashi.

And then the tip of Sasuke’s scissors protruding from the scraps of fabric and the other tools on his basket gleamed temptingly in front of Naruto’s eyes. Sasuke was already finished and just examining his work, cutting some stray fabrics and giving it a good look before placing them on top of the shelves where the complete ones were put.

“It shouldn’t bother him…” He’s just going to borrow scissors, he’s not going to hog him like last year so maybe Sasuke wouldn’t bark at him for that, or roar fiercely even, he’s not going to insist eating lunch together, or try to coax him into walking home together.

“Hey Sasuke.” The blonde while trying for his cool to remain, already found himself in front of Sasuke who was busying himself with branding people on the ground from the window witih ‘idiot’ ‘bitch’ and ‘useless’.

Sasuke gave himself a mental pat on the back for having succeeded on sliding on his usual stoic mask as he turned slowly towards Naruto’s direction.

“I was wondering, if you could, let me borrow your scissors, since you’re already finished.” Sasuke looked at Naruto with narrowed eyes for a while, not hinting any emotion of his face but his eyes told other wise, it made Naruto want to reject the scissor Sasuke had pulled from his basket and handed to him.

“Thanks, I’ll give it to you when I’m done.” Just when Naruto was about to turn to go back to his stool, Sasuke spoke, it wasn’t supposed to be heard considering how loud the class were of their chattings, but at that time, everybody was so intent on watching the exchange that it sounded so loud to Naruto’s ears as if Sasuke had stood alone in an empty podium and screamed.

“So, ran out of the names on your list so finally you’re settling for the last choice.” Sasuke himself was shocked at hearing his own hurt but gruff voice, he could feel himself having the feeling as if someone had just roundhouse kicked him on the chest.

“S-Sasuke?” Naruto called out as if he had been imagining things, but when Sasuke answered back, he could no longer move.

“Sticking to me like an idiot because you had no friends other than dog-breath.” There was a sound of metal scraping against the floor. “And then feigning ignorance when you just fit in a little.”

There was a stomping of feet in the silence that was created from Sasuke’s bitter smile.

“What a loser.”

“You bastard!!!”

Sasuke could not fathom how he’d end up from his position on the stool against the wall to the other side as he choked on the blood and breathed raggedly the air that was knocked out of him earlier by the opposing wall behind the pale eyed male cat, Neji could just stare down at him from his stool. The distance between the two glacial men had been at least four meters wide. How Kiba’s fist had managed to cover that distance with a single punch… was a feat one could expect from the next head of the wolf clan.

“Stop acting like you’re the one at the right every fucking second Uchiha!” Kiba roared, Naruto’s arms around his waist the only thing keeping him from beating the living daylights out of Sasuke who had managed to sit up while using the wall for support. The wolf’s upper incisor teeth had grown three inches long, reaching down his chin, his eyes were silver and the space between his eyes as well as his temples were both wrinkled in a deep enraged look, his nails grew thick and sharp ready to dig them into the Uchiha’s flesh any minute.

“No! Kiba, it’s not his fault!” The blonde tried to coax Kiba into calming down and not sputter any more than he already had, but Naruto was ignored.

“YOU were the one who told him to keep away! Why don’t you stop thinking of yourself for even a damn second because you’re not the only who has the right to get hurt! You don’t know what Naruto’s been through and I don’t plan on summarizing even, you don’t deserve it, so go fuck yourself and shut the fuck up!”

The air suddenly became tense and it was only Kiba’s roar that can be heard, no one dared move, Sasuke wasn’t reacting either. The faculty teachers nearby heard the uproar, Sasuke was sent to the hospital nearby because of a dislocated jaw, two broken ribs, and a concussion while Kiba was sent to the head’s office, along with Naruto to explain things.

When the commotion finally calmed down, Naruto was sent to pack his things and go home for a while because of the students who’d pester him with questions. Kiba was suspended for a month, but Naruto expected Kiba would be appearing in school sooner than Sasuke.

“Well that was one giant fight.” Kakashi blurted out as he sank on the lounge seat in Naruto’s bedroom, Iruka on the bed with Naruto, rubbing his back repeatedly for comfort.

“It hadn’t been a fight to start with. Poor Sasuke. It’s fortunate it didn’t last that long to cause more damage.” Iruka smiled in relief, that was the first time Kiba had lost control, and the first time his battle mode had kicked in.

“What happened anyway? You said misunderstanding, we’re missing details here.”

“I was borrowing some scissors from Sasuke, and he lent it to me. But he said I was ignoring him and only talked to him because I had no choice.” The lovers remained silent after that, Kakashi too had noticed the change, and he thought maybe it had something to do with Naruto locking himself up for two days with only Kiba permitted to come in. “And that I only hung out with him last year because of that too.” The blonde continued, silently breaking off with tears he wiped in alternate motion with one hand while the other rested on his lap, his ears downcast. Kiba had been on a village exchange program with the school at the south part of the Fire country at that time, and he knew that Kiba felt guilty for leaving him alone, so he was instantly worked up whenever something involving last year that affected his blonde best friend painfully. “And that now that I look different and fit in, I forgot him…”

“Did you… not talk to him at all?” Iruka prodded, leaning down to look at the down cast face of the blonde fox.

“I did, but it’s not really talk. It would feel awkward to do that now. I didn’t want to bother him anymore, and I never thought he’d be angry if I didn’t talk to him that much.”

“Why did you avoid him in the first place anyway? Had a fight?” At that Naruto paused from saying any further, but he nodded slightly and returned to wiping his eyes like an abandoned pet by his beloved master.

“Naruto?” Iruka prodded.

“Sasuke was always alone, and he never talked to anybody, so I thought I’d cheer him up and make him hang out with others.” Both the teachers nodded to this. “He said I was annoying but I only shrugged it off as a joke. I never really thought I was just bothering him until… that… that time we were picking fruits for the festival… there was an accident, and, and he saved me, but, I wasn’t used to…”

>>>>>

“No! Get off!” Naruto pushed Sasuke on top of him, the raven falling on his butt as the blonde slid backwards against the ground, various cuts on his cheeks and elbows but the Uchiha had it worse, his head was bleeding heavily from the branch that had bruised the back of his head and nape, soaking the neck line of his white uniform.

The blonde hyperventilated and Sasuke could just stare incredulous at Naruto. He saved him. He almost got his head split open by a damn tree trunk. And he said ‘get off’!? of course, some part of him was pissed off that he saved the blonde like that, if he died in a freak accident then that would be an embarrassment to his name, his blood, and his clan, but what pissed him off the most was Naruto looking as if he hated being touched by him like that. What the fuck?

And why the hell did his body move like that like it’s possessed?

By the time Naruto had calmed down he became aware of what had just transpired, the blood on the ‘hurt’ Uchiha, and the tree trunk lying on the ground in between them, with the same blood staining the end of it. “Sas-Sasuke, you’re hurt. S-sorry I didn’t mean to push you like that I-”

“Shut up. Never mind.” Sasuke stood up, brushing off the dirt on his elbow, knees and buttocks as if it was his current problem at the time.

“S-sorry, l-let’s get you to the hos-”

“I said it’s fine. I don’t care.” Sasuke swatted the blonde’s away hotly when Naruto tried to approach him. “You’re such a bother, why don’t you get it already and leave me alone. Stop pushing yourself to my face.”

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