Ranch Country

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians out there...I'm not sure when the American thanksgiving is...but when it comes, Happy Thanksgiving to you guys as well. ^-^

I don't own Naruto.

XxX XxX

The bad mood he'd woken up with seemed to stay with him. It didn't matter that he'd seen one of the most beautiful sunrises he'd ever come across in his entire twenty four years of life. His mood didn't lift when all his dogs had come running and actually listened to him that morning, and it stayed bleak when Lee called and told him that one of his mares was in estrus and he needed Naruto's stud to cover her.

His dreams were on his mind when he fed and watered the five horses he kept, they worked themselves deep into his mind, dragging up memories he thought he'd buried over the past four years when he went into town for the groceries that Sakura needed.

As a result he was standing in the soup aisle trying to figure out the difference between Mushroom and Cream of Mushroom when the scent hit him. He stiffened and grabbed a case of each, plus a case of Tomato. If Sakura didn't like it -she- could go shopping next time.

There was a soft sigh behind him as if Sasuke couldn't figure out what to say. That was fine with him, the asshole could stay mute forever and he'd stay happy, as long as they didn't have to talk anymore. If Sasuke talked, if he tried to start a conversation all the locks Naruto had put on his heart, all the thoughts he'd kept secret in his head would start spewing out, and he'd come apart at the seems the way he'd never allowed himself too.

“Don't say anything. Just, don't say anything.”

Another quiet exhale and Naruto clenched his eyes tightly, trying to keep his chest from bursting with all the pressure that was building up.

“If-.” Naruto moistened his lips nervously, not wanting to turn around, he couldn't stand seeing the man, when his emotions were this broken up inside, all swimming about like single celled creatures in a primordial soup, all trying to grow and take over at the same time. “If you have to talk, come by the ranch later.”

“Fine. I'll be there around seven.” Seven was the hour every Rancher kept to eat his evening meal unless something kept him from getting to the main house. It was a well played trap, Naruto wouldn't be able to avoid him, even if he took supper in his room.

“Seven it is.” Naruto murmured as the man he once thought he'd spend the rest of his life with walked away for the second time.

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“I can't believe you invited him for supper? The asshole broke your heart.” Kiba ranted, yelping as Sakura kept bashing him over the head with the wooden spoon she held.

“I didn't invite him, he invited himself.” Naruto growled as he pulled a t-shirt on over his still damp skin. Showers were his safe haven, anything that had been troubling him during the day could be washed down the drain with the dirt and sweat he'd picked up. Only it hadn't worked today, he'd stepped out of the bathroom, clad only in a towel and Kiba had virtually jumped on him as he'd headed back to his room to dress. All the stress he'd gotten rid of came back so fast his back had twinged as his muscles bunched up.

“He's leaving after supper.”

“Are you sure about that?” Sakura asked, a pink eyebrow raising sarcastically as she frowned.

“I'm positive about it, even if Kiba and I have to make sure he gets into his truck he'll be leaving after supper.” Naruto ignored the smirk that had appeared on Kiba's face at the images his words provoked. Sakura sighed, a sign she was allowing the boys to think whatever they wanted though she, as a female and holder of female intuition, obviously knew better.

“I've got to check on my pies. Put on the shirt I got you for Christmas last year and some of the cologne your Dad left you. And for the sake of Pete, do something with your hair.”

“Why? It's just supper, and it's the asshole coming over anyway.” Kiba asked, voicing the question both he and Naruto were asking.

“We want the asshole to so what he left behind don't we?” Sakura paused at the door and turned back, the smirk on her face chilling the blood of both men behind her. “I invited Sai over as well.”

“YOU DID WHAT?!?!”

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Sasuke scowled at the pale man who looked so like him standing next to him in front of the big red door Sasuke had knocked on for most of his life. Okay, that was a lie, he'd just walked into the house for most of his life, and this knocking felt strange. But from the way Sakura greeted him with the stare and the other man with a warm smile and a hug it was apparent that he was the stranger now.

“Sasuke, this is Sai. Sai, this is Sasuke.” Sakura introduced the two and wandered back into the kitchen, yelling at Kiba to turn off the TV. He yelled back that hockey was on and the Oilers were beating the Redwings and he couldn't turn it off in the second period when Hossa had been given a penalty for high sticking.

Sasuke stiffened when Naruto had joined in on yelling at the referee for giving a crosschecking penalty to Pisani. The pale man Sai ad wandered into the living room and Kiba had thrown a 'Hey Sai, hows it hanging man?' to the pale man who seemed to have taken over Sasuke's place.

He walked stiffly to the end of the wall where the kitchen opened up to the living room and stood there, not sure what had happened to the plan in his mind. Get Naruto alone and convince him that the not contacting him for four years was somehow a sign of his love. Then the blond would fall into his arms and they would have passionate love. That plan of action was bleeding out quite quickly, leaving Sasuke with a bitter taste in his mouth as he realized that everything he was about to say was going to be heard by outside ears.

Not Sakura or Kiba, they were nearly as much a part of his family as Naruto was, but this Sai character. The fake smile he'd turned on Sasuke had made the Uchiha want to plant his fist in the pale man's face and laugh until he was crying tears of insane joy.

There was a low murmur of conversation during a commercial and Kiba turned to face Sasuke, his expression caught between humor at the situation and exasperation at not being able to say what he really thought of it.

“Sit the fuck down Uchiha. This is awkward enough as it is without you playing the injured ice princess.”

XxX XxX

Supper was a semi-quiet affair, the noise level broken only by Kiba talking about the crazy break away goal made by Cogliano.

Once the meal had ended Kiba stood up, cracking his knuckles as he eyed Sasuke in unholy glee and the pale man sighed, knowing exactly what was going to happen. Hell, he'd helped the two of them do it to others that hadn't been welcome in the house.

“I'm going.” He stood and looked down at Naruto who was purposefully avoiding his gaze, seemingly ignoring the fact that Sai was playing with his fingers, linking their hands before he'd trace the lines in Naruto's palm with thin white digits before doing it again.

So this plan had failed, but he had several dozen more up his sleeve, hidden in his left shoe, tucked into that crease where his left brain met his right brain. He would get Naruto alone soon, and he would get the man to admit they were both wrong...okay so he was a little more in the wrong then his blond counterpart, so it was all his fault. But that didn't mean that Naruto had to hate him forever.

Once Sasuke had left, the screen door slamming Naruto had wrenched his hand from Sai's ignoring the curious look he was sent from dark eyes that reminded him of another pair of equally dark ones.

“We both have to be up early, you should go.” Naruto murmured as he stood to head back up to his room, wanting to get the smell that reminded him of his father and happier times off his skin.

Sai shot a look at Sakura, as if wanting a second opinion on Naruto's behavior. When the pinkette nodded the pale man had stood and gave a little bow, the fake happy smile that drove people crazy on his face and blocking out any emotions that might have been present.

“Thank you for the meal. I hope we can do this again, it was enjoyable.” Nodding to Kiba the pale man strode to the door, pulling on his boots and leaving. The screen door slammed and both Kiba and Sakura let out a sigh, though the pinkette's relief was short lived as Kiba rounded on her.

“How could you do that. It's obvious he wanted to talk, and he would have even if we had been present.”

“Naruto's not ready to hear what he has to say.”

“How the hell do you know?” Kiba asked and Sakura felt a little ashamed of her actions. If his voice had been angry even just a little, instead of the soft something that filled it, she could have turned this one him, As it were she was left in the kitchen wringing her hands as Kiba went up to talk to his friend.

XxX XxX

“I think you should talk to him.”

“What difference would that make? He'd try to foist the entire thing off on me, I was too clingy, I'm the first guy to climb in the back of his truck, I'm the guy who-.”

“Stop it.” Kiba's voice was gentle as he sighed and sat on the edge of Naruto's bed. The blond already tucked in for the night. “We all know he might try that shit, and if he does then you have a valid excuse to hand him his ass. We all know he's probably still as crappy with fighting as he was when he left.” Naruto couldn't' stop his chuckle and so let it rumble through him, enjoying the memory for the moment.

“I don't think I'll ever forget the look on his face when you and Kankuro threw him into the swamp after he slid a frog down Hinata's shirt.”

“He deserved it.” Kiba smiled at the memory as well and leaned back, resting his head on Naruto's strong torso.

“How is Hinata?” It wasn't a method to change the subject, the blond's brain didn't work that way, he was simply curios about a friend he hadn't seen in a few months.

“She's good. Getting her degree at the U of A before she comes home to be a Nurse in out little town. I keep teasing her about wanting to stay in the big city, but she wouldn't do that to us, she loves it here to much.” Kiba sighed, thinking about the dark hair and pale curves that haunted his dreams and left him hard and aching when he woke.

“Well at least someone loves it here enough to come home.” Was the murmur and Kiba heaved a sigh as he sat up to stare down at his long time friend. He nearly winced before he steeled himself.

“Okay, someone has to say this to you and as much as I want it to be Sakura she's not here and the task falls to me.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Did you get into Suigetsu's mushroom patch again?” Naruto asked with a faint smile curving his mouth.

“You have to stop this pity party.”

“Excuse me?” The lazy image the blond had created was gone in an instant, his body out of bed in an instant, going toe to toe with Kiba who took a breath and tried to gain courage to say the things that needed to be said.

“It's been a long hard four years, we've all seen that. But you had this all behind you, you were good and then he came back and you've let yourself fall back from being the capable adult you were to being the lost scared little boy you used to be. I hate seeing you like this and knowing that I can't do anything to help you feel better.” Kiba took another breath, feeling like slime at the hurt in his friends eyes.

“Sasuke's the only one who can take the blame, the only one who can make you fell whole again and you need to at least talk to the man. If he tries to put anything on you I'll hunt him down and stake him out for the coyote's.” Anger flashed through Kiba's eyes as he remembered Naruto coming to him, eyes red from crying after six months of no contact from Sasuke.

“Tell him what it did to you, what you thought when he washed his hands of you. If he can still call himself a man after you finish with him then maybe you two were always meant to be together.”

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I hope this doesn't end up sounding like some drunk person wrote it. I ended up writing it at midnight and I can feel my brain starting to shut down neuron by neuron.

Reviews make me write faster, remember that. ^-^