Inbred

I'm such a bad, bad person. Angst had reviewed my first chapter, I'm now on my fourth chapter and I haven't even offered my thanks for his/her critique which proved valuable during the second chapter. Thank you!


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Chapter 4

"Oi dobe! Get up!"

Naruto muttered something before turning onto his other side and promptly falling back to sleep. Sasuke made that noise behind his teeth again and got out of the car, walked over to Naruto's side, opened the door, removed the blond's seat-belt and grabbed him by the shoulders, unceremoniously dumping him onto the car-park pavement below. The abused swore under his breath and barely moved his leg in time before Sasuke slammed the car door on his ankle.

"What the fu-," he managed groggily, between a sleep-like state and boiling rage. Naruto got to his feet and glared at Sasuke who was now opening the trunk of his car. He reached in, pulled out a duffel bag and tossed it at the dazed Naruto who barely caught it in time before it knocked him back to the ground.

"Watch it, ass," he growled. All Sasuke did was smirk as he removed the rest of Naruto's belongings and closed the trunk again before moving to the back seat of the car to procure more baggage.

Were they here already? Naruto looked around his new surroundings. They were definitely on a campus of some sort, he could tell by the groups of uniformed students either sitting or ambling around the grounds. Were they heading off to class? No, it was late in the evening, the sky was already turning purple and orange. Just how long had Sasuke's errand taken anyway. He looked over at the building adjacent to the car-park they were now in. It looked fairly new which kind of made it stand out from the other buildings which were weather-beaten and showed signs of constant renovation.

Naruto didn't get to drink in much more of his surroundings before a billowing object landed across his face. What was with people throwing his clothes on his head? He growled again as he yanked his jacket off his head. He heard soft giggles a few feet away and turned to be pleasantly surprised by a group of girls who had gathered on the opposite side of the chain link fence. Naruto flashed his trademark grin and waved at them but they didn't seem to notice him.

The car door slammed and Sasuke grunted in annoyance at the flock that had gathered. The second his face came into view they started squealing and waving trying to get his attention.

Naruto noticed this and his face fell. Great! More Sasuke fan-girls.

"Let's go dobe," he said a little too harshly for his liking but he really wasn't in the mood to deal with them now he'd get a strong dose of them Monday morning when class started so he'd be damned if they harassed him on his day off. Naruto picked up what he could but had to leave some bags behind, Tsunade packed way too much stuff. He saw Sasuke stop at the entrance way and address two boys who were casually lounging on the steps. He spoke to them in English but Naruto was too far away to hear what he said. Sasuke pointed over to him and one of the boys nodded, the other just yawned.

Sasuke disappeared inside just as the two boys walked past him and began to gather the remainder of his luggage.

Not wanting to be left behind but a little unnerved at leaving his belongings with a couple of strangers he ventured inside the large building.

He was dumbstruck.

If he didn't know better he would have sworn he just stepped inside of a hotel lobby and not a college dorm. It was alot more impressive than the dorm he stayed at temporarily at his old campus, but then again this was probably a school for wealthy and upper-class students which was, what Sasuke was. He caught the man clad in black hastily making his way up the first flight of stairs and Naruto hastened his step as well. He'd get a chance to look around later. They passed groups of boys hanging around in the hallways who would send a polite greeting their way but then glance curiously at Naruto. Sasuke never slowed his step but grunted his acknowledgment to the other tenants.

They ascended another flight of stairs and then another before Sasuke finally stopped before a door. He just stared at it for a long while as if he suddenly expected it to open automatically and Naruto wondered if he had forgotten his keys or something. He was about to ask if everything was okay before Sasuke continued down the hall and stopped at another door just a few feet from the first one. He rested Naruto's possessions on the floor before fishing around in his pocket for a bunch of keys on a black key ring with his family's emblem on it. Naruto recognized it as the Uchiha company logo and had seen it on many of Sasuke's things. He was told it was supposed to be a fan of some sort but it looked more like a fishing tackle to him, he never told the Uchiha that though.

Once inside Sasuke flicked on a light since it was starting to get dark and Naruto gasped as the white light bathed the obscurity of the room making everything appear elegant. He was convinced, this wasn't a dorm room, this was a penthouse suite in a ritzy apartment. Okay, maybe he was over-exaggerating and since Naruto had never seen a penthouse suite he couldn't make an accurate comparison, but it looked like how he would imagine one would look, without the fountains and the city-scape view at least. And what the heck was up with Sasuke and black? The couch was black, the room divider was black the end table with the glass surface was framed in black and from what he could see in the kitchen from here most of the appliances were black too.

"Nice place you got here," complimented the obviously impressed youth.

Sasuke pulled his arms over his head in a relaxing stretch causing the hem of his shirt to rise up and reveal a sliver of the taut skin beneath. He exhaled sharply dropping his hands haphazardly and they brushed against his hips. "Glad you like it," but his tone was monotone as if he no longer appreciated the beauty of his home. Home? He had never thought of this place as his home, home was where the heart was and his heart was currently AWOL trying to sort out something that was complicating his life alot more than necessary but with Naruto here, the place suddenly didn't seem so...empty. "Your room is straight down the hall," he gestured with a thumb and a nod of his head. "Bathroom's on the left, my room's on the right. Stay the fuck out of my room, Uzumaki," he warned with a glare before making his way into the kitchen and rummaging around in the fridge.

Naruto stuck out his tongue when the other guy's back was turned and made his way down the hall, briefly stopping at Sasuke's door and lightly touched the door knob. Sasuke said not to go into his room but he didn't say he couldn't look into his room. He knew he was being childish but his curiosity also got the better of him and he wondered what kind of secrets Sasuke kept shut within his private sanctum. Naruto worried the knob a bit but found that the door was lock. Stupid bastard! Was he paranoid or something? Didn't he trust his best friend? Naruto chuckled at the irony and continued into his room.

It was alot bigger than his old bedroom.

The room was fairly empty but he knew he'd have it lived-in in no-time. There was a built-in closet, a TV stand (with no TV) with many shelves and a few cupboards some boxy looking thing in the corner that Naruto guessed was a hamper and a large bed with two side tables and one lamp. That bed could comfortably fit him and four girls, easy! The boy laughed at where his train of thought was going and suddenly remembered the book Jiraiya had given him. He'd get to that later though because low voices in the front room caught his attention and Naruto went back to investigate.

It was the two guys Sasuke had spoken to earlier on the front steps of the building. One of them was standing in the middle of the room with his hands deep in his pants pocket. He had messy dark hair and wore circular sunglasses Naruto heard his voice but wasn't even sure if he had said anything because his lips barely even moved. The other one had decided to make himself comfortable and sat on the sofa, in an almost reclining manner with his legs stretched out far before him and one hand thrown over the back of the chair, the other resting lazily on his stomach. His hair was pulled up into a high pig-tail and he wore the most nonchalant expression Naruto had ever seen. Sasuke was no longer in the kitchen but was sitting at the bar to face both men. Three pairs of eyes turned to look at Naruto as he appeared in the hallway.

"Speak of the devil," grinned Sasuke. "This is the guy I was telling you about," he explained to his guests while gesturing at the blond. "Uzumaki Naruto, meet Nara Shikamaru and Aburame Shino." The one in the shades gave him a very formal greeting and nodded his head while the other glanced at him and raised his hand very unenthusiastically.

"Hey, nice to meet you," Naruto smiled and raised a hand of his own. Both boys continued to stare at him and he wondered if he had offended them somehow.

The one on the couch eventually spoke up with a drawl that would give someone the impression that it was way too much effort to form words with his mouth and sounds with his throat. "Do we really have to speak English around him? It's too troublesome."

Naruto raised a brow. Was this guy serious? His sentence structure and enunciation were flawless so why the hell was speaking English a problem.

"It's rude to speak around someone who doesn't understand the language very well." Naruto knew it wasn't Sasuke's voice and it didn't come from the lazy punk so he assumed it was the Shino character. That guy would make a great ventriloquist.

Sasuke further introduced them as tenants of the boys dorm as well, two of the few even allowed to set foot within Sasuke's room and he made it explicitly clear to his new roomie that no one else was supposed to enter if he was ever here alone. They talked, or rather, they maintained some semblance of a conversation, since Shino spoke only when spoken to and Shikamaru spoke only when he thought it was strategically convenient to do so. Sasuke didn't deposit much into the conversation either so Naruto had to carry the brunt of it, which didn't prove to be a problem, he could be very talkative.

He found out that both boys were in Sasuke's year and they shared the same major so they attended the same classes. The fact that they were all boarders in this particular dorm affirmed that they came from very wealthy families. Shikamaru's family consisted of doctors, herbalists and nutritionalists while Shino's were archaeologists but others mainly studied plants and bugs.

Neither boy gave more information than what Naruto asked for and he soon found it was like trying to pull teeth.

It was getting later and the two boys excused themselves to head back to their respective rooms. "Oi, guess who came out of his self-imposed seclusion after you left." Shikamaru shot back to Sasuke over his shoulder as an afterthought.

Sasuke just nodded.

Nara stared at Uchiha and looked as if he was going to say something else but then decided against it because he couldn't be bothered anymore. With another unenthused wave he walked off closing the door behind him.

Naruto wondered what that was all about but when he turned to his friend he found that the dark haired-man was practically boring a hole through the door with his eyes where Shikamaru stood just moments ago.

"Eh, Sasuke?" He didn't move.

"Sasuke?" The blond waved a large palm before the brooding field of vision. Sasuke blinked and turned to look at Naruto and he looked at him...funny. That was the only way he could describe it. If he were to put it in words, however he'd say the Uchiha looked troubled or maybe even anxious but Sasuke never let anything bother him so...maybe he had bad gas?

He snapped out of whatever trance he was in and muttered something under his breath then turned to Naruto. "It's getting late, you're probably tired. Go to bed, I'll see you in the morning."

It was just like that. Sasuke left him no room for protest and even if he wanted to he didn't stay around to hear because he made a beeline straight to his own room. He heard the door unlock, close and lock again. Tch! What a bastard.

Naruto wasn't tired, not in the least but he supposed if he put his head to the pillow then maybe... He stretched out on his bed, hands folded behind his head and eyes affixed to the ceiling. He wondered what had caused Sasuke's strange behaviour all of a sudden. Sasuke was a pretty strange guy already but Naruto knew him better than most people and this was behaviour that felt alien to him. He considered giving Tsunade and Jiraiya a call but he couldn't be bothered to get up off the bed now... he was suddenly feeling... very ... sleepy.