Evanescent Trail

“At… at that time, my body’s been really weird, and I felt sensitive all over… and except from you and Kakashi-sensei, Kiba’s the only one who’s only ever touched me, and it wasn’t as intimate like that. But I shouldn’t have shoved him.”

“I see.” Iruka nodded in understanding.

“Well, what do you think of running an errand for me?” The blonde’s head shot up, trails of tears on both cheeks as Naruto blinked.

“Eh?” Kakashi pulled a wallet from his pocket and handed it to Naruto, tomorrow’s his payday and he knew except for buying ramen on the sidelines, the blonde wouldn’t really spend all of it, so he threw it to the blonde’s direction, Naruto catching it, confused.

“I ran out of condoms and lube, do me a favor will you?” Immediately a deadly scowl settled on the blonde’s face and he flinched as Iruka shrieked, embarrassed.

“Kakashi! He’s still a minor!!!” Iruka insisted, but blushing fiercely when he realized that it wasn’t for Naruto’s use, but for them. “No! Don’t go!”

“Also, give this to Ino, it’s urgent. She’s currently working part time for her mother’s flower shop.” Kakashi snatched a scrap paper from the desk just before his head and scribbled some words on it, before folding it to the shape of a plane and letting it fly towards Naruto.

“For crying out loud, how old are you?” Naruto gave up catching the damn paper plane with one hand, Kakashi was lucky, he wanted a walk, a really long walk to think things.

“It’s a secret.” Kakashi winked and Naruto rolled his eyes as he closed the door behind them. “Air out my room or I’ll kill you!” Although Naruto couldn’t see that because well, if you want to wink then the other had to be opened, and with Kakashi’s other eye in a medical eye patch, it’s impossible to know.

“Kakashi-st-op!” The blonde rolled his eyes and left.

+++

“Thank you, come again!” The blushing pharmacist giggled along with the others as Naruto quickly turned around, the embarrassing tools was burning in his hands inside that plastic bag and he swore he was going to pound Kakashi if not for the fact that he was the one who convinced Tsunade for not expelling Kiba.

“Did he buy it for himself?”

“No, baka, I’m sure it’s for his boyfriend.”

“Is he punishing him? He’s a virgin, how lucky.”

“Well with a face that cute, who wouldn’t? Kyaaah!” Naruto had never felt so embarrassed in his life. BOYFRIEND!? VIRGIN!? How did they know!? Why did they have to jump into conclusions like that!? Okay sure… he can change into a girl, but he’s a friggin’ boy right now!

“Hi Ino.” He greeted back to Ino’s cheerful welcome at the counter.

“And what brought you here, hm? Flowers for your girlfriend?” Ino had meant for that to be a joke, but Naruto blushed even more and he shook his head.

“Um, no, Kakashi wanted me to give you this, he says it’s urgent.” As Naruto gave the paper to Ino whose eyes widened as she read it, she gave an affectionate smile to Naruto, before glancing at the establishment behind him.

“Just wait a minute.”

Five minutes later and Naruto didn’t know what to do with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, he’d paid Ino for it, and he thought Kakashi sensei to be quite the sappy person, his styles were ancient, but it didn’t make Iruka love him any less. Until Ino handed out the address for the ‘delivery’, with her forefinger pointing out at the establishment behind Naruto.

Konoha General Hospital Room 212

Naruto stopped just before Sasuke Uchiha’s room, listening for any clues of people still inside, when he was sure no one was there, he silently stepped inside, intent on just putting the flowers on the vase then leaving, he was sure Sasuke was still sleeping, he’s supposed to be.

But Sasuke being Sasuke, he wasn’t.

Sasuke was sitting on the reclining bed with a pillow on the floor since he couldn’t get up on the left with his drip, on the right side and another pillow which was already in the midst of falling off, behind his back.

“H-hi…” Naruto chuckled nervously as he went to close the door behind him, the vase was empty, figures, Sasuke never liked having things brought to him, cards, balloons, especially flowers. This was definitely a bad idea. Sasuke just stared at him and spoke nothing, that weird thing around his neck was taken off and he was probably alright with only a faint color of violet on his jaw, really how those nurses could do wonders, although he was probably having difficulty with his back, and his right hand was bandaged when it fractured itself because it supported his weight in the fall earlier.

The silence between them was uncomfortable but Naruto had to apologize, both for him and for Kiba.

The blonde put the bouquet of three white lilies on the bedside table and drawer in one, taking the empty vase to the kitchen sink to fill it halfway with water and returning to put the flowers in. Naruto’s foot bumped against the pillow and he picked it up, not knowing what to do with it, when the other pillow behind Sasuke dropped too, so holding two pillows, what was he to do with it?

“T-the pillows… your back, you have trouble with them right?” Even though Sasuke was a genius, he was no superman, or a super demon, he needed help to lift his upper body so that Naruto could put the pillows back to its rightful place. Awkwardly his hands braced on Sasuke’s shoulders and lifted him forward as gently and as slowly as possible, he slid his right hand to cover both the back of Sasuke’s shoulders and used his left hand to grab the pillow and place it behind him, just as when a nurse came in to check his condition.

Naruto would have jumped to the bed and crushed the unlucky patient had he not thought of the raven’s status when the nurse let out a giggle behind her metal paper chart holder, she apologized for startling them, but it really did appear to her eyes that they were embracing, she was all ready to disperse the thought when her white high heeled shoes tripped on something on the floor as she neared them.

“Oh it looks like you’ve dropped something.” She said with a smile bending down to pick the tube of what appeared to be lotion and ignoring Naruto’s protests, and then she froze.

At the moment, Naruto’s mind was like this. Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit! Gonnadiegonnadiegonnadie!

“It’s not mine! Before you jump to conclusions we’re just friends-u-um, classmates!” Naruto said in a defensive tone as he tried to suppress the blush which the nurse was starting to mirror, she hastily checked Sasuke’s temperature, the raven who arched an eyebrow earlier at what had been revealed in his eyes was now trying to suppress a giggle bubbling out of his mouth, and the nurse quickly shut the door behind her, but her giggles were too loud for Naruto’s ears to not hear, that he could probably hear those nurses gasping, giggling and ‘awwww’ing at them.

“Damn Kakashi. He planned this. Somehow.” Naruto said with obvious hatred for the said teacher as he shoved the contents back inside the plastic bag, when he caught sight of Sasuke, smirking.

“What?” He hissed, and the smirk grew.

“You tell anyone about this, you’re dead.” The smirk faded, and his brow rose again.

Suddenly the room didn’t feel so uncomfortable anymore.

Naruto sat on the stool cautiously, eyes switching from the finally relaxed face of the Uchiha and the white sheet covering his lap to his feet.

“I… came here to apologize.” This didn’t seem to be what Sasuke wanted to hear, because he turned his head to glance away at Naruto.

“Not only for what Kiba did, but for what I did too… last year.” Sasuke turned his head back to look at Naruto’s downcast ears and face, his fingers squeezing and letting go of his tail on his lap repeatedly. “I-!”

The blonde halted at what he was going to say, he mustered all his courage and faced Sasuke eye to eye, and was surprised to see the hurt look on the Uchiha’s face, it hurt his tail having to squeeze them that tight, but for the moment, he hadn’t noticed it at all. “I’m really sorry that time.” The blonde blurted out, looking as much sincere as possible. “During that time, my body’s… reactions have been getting really weird, when people touch me it’s… it’s really embarrassing, but I was afraid that you’d notice it and think I’m weird for reacting like that.”

Sasuke wore the look of a confused cat, as if he was trying to decide whether it’s safe to eat the catnip or not.

“Before the shedding occurred… my body got all sensitive, so when you pushed me down to dodge that branch…” Sasuke’s black eyes rounded with realization as Naruto’s ears went flat against his blonde hair again but for a different reason and his face threatened to resemble that of a tomato. “Y-you know I’ve never had many friends before, so I wasn’t used to being touched like that, only Kiba and Kakashi-sensei, and Iruka-sensei… and it wasn’t as intimate like that… A-anyway! I’m… I was… I was really grateful!” Naruto’s head that had lowered unconsciously shot up again and quickly blurted the last words out.

“I was unable to thank you formally, for saving me. It made me really happy, because no one’s ever done that to me before… well, if Kiba was there I’m sure he would, but, if other people was there, I’m sure they wouldn’t have cared… so I was really surprised. I’m sorry for thinking that way about you.” Naruto finished humbly, and a moment of silence after that followed.

Finding the silence after blurting all those embarrassing things out awkward, the blonde gingerly stood up to excuse himself, grabbing his bag, the hateful plastic bag Kakashi made him buy and was already about to turn from the edge of the bed to leave, when a hand on the hem of his sleeve stopped him.

“Sasuke?” Naruto looked down on Sasuke, waiting for a clue of something the dark cat would say when he saw Sasuke’s mouth move. “I heard from the nurse that it still hurt to talk, since you coughed blood. I’m going now.” Sasuke’s hand looked as if it didn’t have any intention of letting go, he turned the hand to have its palm face upward, and wrote on it carefully.

CAN. I. TOUCH. YOU. NOW. SO. THAT. I. WILL. KNOW. WHAT. TO. DO? WHEN. YOU. ARE. SAD. HOW. DOES. KIBA. TOUCH. YOU?

From the blonde’s palm, Sasuke looked up to see Naruto’s expression with a sheepish smile.

TEACH. ME. HOW. SO. THAT. YOU. WILL. GET. USED. TO. IT. AND.

Sasuke paused from writing on the palm when he felt a tear drop on the hand he was using to hold Naruto’s own from the blonde’s eyes.

“Well… basically, they do this.” Naruto sat on the stool again and put Sasuke’s hand over his head, and the dark haired cat, rubbed and scratched the area between and behind the reddish orange ears as Naruto moved to lie his head on the edge of the bed, purring into the touch like a cat.

After the apology from both parties Naruto had made it a point to visit Sasuke every after class, except when he’s got some ‘things’ to take care of and Sasuke had to admit, every time Naruto would call that he couldn’t make it, he would purposely piss off the nurse to amuse himself and ignore the boredom of not having Naruto around, he still couldn’t speak with his jaw recovering and Naruto was always the one who wanted to talk. But a week before his release and Naruto didn’t come visit him at all, he was worried, but he didn’t show it.

After his one month and a week in the hospital he was finally given permission to take classes, he still couldn’t write, but he could still take notes from Naruto, he was sure he’d offer, no matter how messy it was, he could get used to it.

When he finally stepped on their classroom, where their first subject was homeroom again except on Wednesdays and Thursdays where they had physical education and handicrafts, the first things he looked for wasn’t his chair, but Naruto’s, too see if it was occupied, sure enough the blonde was there and he narrowed his eyes on the dog-breath laughing with him. Naruto was sitting on the desk, and Kiba was sitting on the chair of the same desk facing each other. Somehow he didn’t find it comfortable to look at.

“Oh, hi Sasuke!” The blonde waved, and he nodded back as a greeting, before shooting Kiba with invisible laser beams through his death glare which the wolf matched with his own. Of course, the students were not left by the meaning behind that greeting, and they silently sighed with relief, that things were back to normal.

“Oi.” Kiba said hotly as he stopped before them.

“Hn.” Sasuke said in return.

“You’re still on probation. So is Sasuke-bastard not a bastard anymore?” Kiba crossed his arms, huffing along the way.

“No, he’s still a bastard, but I can manage.” Naruto grinned.

“Whatev-” Sasuke was all ready to bite back an intelligent retort when his eyes caught something waving behind Naruto. He blinked. He blinked again. And this time he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

“Aha. Sorry for not visiting you on your release… I was… busy.”

Naruto’s got two tails!?

Naruto seeing the disbelieving expression on Sasuke’s face which was starting to grow on him had Naruto prodding Sasuke why, and blue eyes turned to follow Sasuke walk behind him.

“Ara. It’s real.” Sasuke said, amazed with eyebrows shooting up his hair line while he stared at the tails in each of his hand that had grown relatively stiff at the touch.

And the whole third floor shook as Naruto let out a freaked out shriek.

“What the fuck!?” Naruto jumped, covering the three meter distance of their room to the farthest end while holding both of his tails close to his chest, the furs on his ears and tails looking as if he had just been static shocked as to how they’d been standing up like that, and the whole class laughed as his blush darkened. It was worse than receiving Kakashi’s trademark Thousand Years of Pain, his tails were the most exposed intimate part of his body, touching them without permission was just as bad as having his butt squeezed by a pervert. And it was Sasuke for crying out loud!

“Aha. I did that too. Same expression.” Kiba grinned, snickering in the process. Sasuke didn’t like Kiba always knowing everything about Naruto first, there comes the privilege of being an asshole more than half of your life but he thought they were already friends, he could have called. Oh wait a minute, if Naruto did call, he wondered what Naruto would say. –sorry Sasuke I can’t come my second tail just came up and I’m busy- and he could feel his own smirk coming up to grace his face.

Before Sasuke arrived, since he just came back from the hospital he thought he’d go and take advantage of it and head off late for the first time, everybody had already asked Naruto about his second tail and as to why he had skipped a week, leaving seven succeeding absences but the blonde remained relatively quiet for the part, and as if on cue, Kakashi suddenly appeared with a poof, and his class had to go and fight for air over the windows before Kakashi sat them up on their seats and explained, skipping through the greeting.

“There are many kinds of demon foxes, but all of them are now extinct, the most powerful one which had the most abilities on them are nine-tailed ones. Since Naruto had the blood of a human, his second tail didn’t come until puberty, if he was pure it’s normally four tails at five, plus two tails at eight, then one tail at eleven, one tail at sixteen and the ninth tail would come out before the mating season kicks in, which is on his eighteenth year. So, ten months from now he’d be having one added every month, he had to be kept inside the house or he’ll keep changing from girl to boy for all the people to see and that’s-”

Kakashi was almost done talking when they heard another large poof, but not enough to suffocate them and they turned to Naruto’s seat. A voluptuous voice came ringing in their ears.

“Aiyah… I changed again, Kakashi senseeeei.” Kakashi barely managed to suppress the blood rushing up his head, he wished Iruka could also call him with that sexy tone.

The button-down long sleeve’s buttons were threatening to pop one by one from the neck line seeing as how his--from Kakashi’s measurement which was almost always precise--cup D breasts crowded inside that tight top. “Come with me Naruto, go change.” Kakashi sighed, noting how Lee for the first time became speechless and how Sakura and all the other girls’ eyes bugged out.

“Slammin’!” Chouji put two of his thumbs up, a crumb of biscuit in between his grinning teeth.

Blood squirted from Kankurou’s nose as his fingers fumbled to cover them up while Temari muttered lame in a disgusted voice.

“But Kakashi-senseeei! What if I turn back to a boy agaaaain! I don’t want to be a cross dresser in school!” Was it just Sasuke, or was Naruto acting all cutesy on purpose just to work their teacher up? Well, it wasn’t just Kakashi though, Sasuke thought realizing how his boxers had become relatively tight.

“You wouldn’t have a problem, you’ll still pass as one even if you turn back. Now come on.”

“Mou…” The blonde pouted, “They’re going to look at me again.” Remembering how the boys’ heads popped from the windows of the hall way just to stare at him.

“So, savor the attention.”

Naruto in a sailor suit, definite plus. Sasuke smirked with the thought. He’s looking forward to the following days.

END OF CHAPTER TWO